


Ghost

by brettbrat16



Series: The Aurora Queen Saga [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Green Arrow (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Explicit Language, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Original Character(s), Sexual Content, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 69,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brettbrat16/pseuds/brettbrat16
Summary: [Book 2]"I keep going to the river to pray'Cause I need something that can wash out the painAnd at most, I'm sleeping all these demons awayBut your ghost, the ghost of youIt keeps me awake"
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Roy Harper & Original Queen Character(s), Teen Titans & Original Female Character(s), Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Tim Drake/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Aurora Queen Saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077767
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. Preface

Rory sat up in the bed, the sheets pooled around her waist as she looked over at the sleeping figure next to her. Blonde hair was spread across the pillows while her features looked almost peaceful. Brushing her bright red hair back, Rory moved to get out of the bed when a hand grabbed onto hers.

"Stay please?" the voice asked. 

Putting on a fake smile, Rory turned to look at her with a smile. "Of course sweetheart, I'm just getting a glass of water." she leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead as she watched the girl next to her fall back asleep, a girl she had never bothered to learn the name of. 

Lies, it was all lies. Rory never stayed over, not once. Not since she had left Gotham for good, and everyone there with it.

Quietly, she snuck out of bed and found her clothes that were scattered across the room amongst the wine glasses and empty bottles. Her bare feet stepped across the room as she left the bedroom and shut the door quietly behind her. 

As she walked out of the apartment, Rory couldn't help but think of how her life had ended up like this. Her hair was red, and she always wore contact lenses to hide the true color of her eyes. It had been almost nine months since she had been in Gotham last, and no one had even known it was her. Rory didn't go by the White Arrow anymore, she was a whisper in the wind that went by the name of Ghost.

Locking the door behind her, Rory pulled her shoes on and walked down the stairs into the dark Seattle night air. This had been the closest she had been to Star City in years, but she couldn't go back. Not when she had a target on her wherever she went. It was why she had left Gotham in the first place.

Pulling up the hood of her jacket, Rory disappeared into the night not to be seen again unless she wanted to. 


	2. Chapter One

She ran down the street, her breath ragged as Rory turned the corner. Deep down she had hoped that they hadn't found her, but if they were keeping up then there was a good chance that it was them in the first place. Of course, wearing a bright red leather jacket wasn't exactly blending in, to begin with, but that was a problem for another day. It was the same jacket Jason had given her three years ago when she had stayed with the Wayne family in Gotham. It was one of the few things she had kept from her old life.

These days she didn't go by Aurora Queen, she took whatever name she saw fit for the occasion and the city she was in. Being trained by some of the greatest came in handy when you were being hunted by the greatest assassins in the world. 

Rory grabbed a trashcan and threw it behind her as she ran, hoping to lose them in the winding streets of New York City. She had been tracing a lead that had led her to the concrete jungle and that's when she came across this group of unfriendlies.

The insults they yelled at her showed off their Brooklyn accent, proving that they were from the area, or at least good at imitating the local accent. The men after her also looked too big to be nimble assassins, they fit the size profile of your average gang member in NYC. They were quite a bit taller than she was and were catching up fast, Rory was going to have to do something to get them off of her tail if she wanted to get back to her place undetected. 

The chase was drawing too much attention, and that was the last thing she wanted. Rory had to end this here and now. Turning a tight corner, Rory held out a trashcan lid as the first guy ran headfirst into it and fell to the ground unconscious. The other two were right behind him, one of them managing to grab a hold of her as he held her arms back exposing her chest and stomach.

This wasn't the worst position she had found herself in, but it was getting close to the top of the list. It was currently before she had been thrown out of a window and a metal rod punctured her side and after getting kissed by Ivy. 

"So what should we do with her? Boss said to take care of her, what do you suggest Pete?" the taller man asked. 

Rory eyed him. "Pete? That's a scary gangster name? Is that why most of them call you Rich Pete? To make you sound tougher, big guy?" she grinned, trying to catch her breath. 

The man across from her, Pete, frowned. "I ain't against hitting a woman, a pretty one at that princess," he said and sent a punch to her stomach as she let out a groan. 

"News flash Rich Pete, only one person gets to call me princess." Rory snapped. "And you are not him." she lifted her foot and connected her heel to his nose before she flipped up and wrapped her legs around the guy's head that was holding her down before she pulled him forward over her body, and brought him down on top of Big Pete.

Now that she was free, Rory leaned over and found a baseball bat lying on the floor that had a New York Mets logo on it. "I'm not much of a Mets fan, but I heard they have one hell of a swing." she grinned and hit them both on the head, knocking them out before she adjusted her jacket on her shoulders and walked back into the sidewalk full of people. Her hair swayed in the wind as she walked, her eyes were hidden behind a pair of large black sunglasses.

Rory had been on the run for over a year now, and the summer sun was beating down on her as she walked. She knew that she would have to leave New York soon, but there were a few things she needed to do before she disappeared again. The lead that had brought her to NYC was still around and she couldn't leave until she fished it out. But the problem was that it wasn't just a group of assassins that was looking for her.

When Rory had gone into hiding, she left everyone behind. No one knew where she was, not even Oliver, Dinah, and Roy. It was her main priority to keep them safe, it's why she left to begin with. In the year she had been gone, none of them had fully stopped looking for her and neither had Bruce. 

The night she left still rung in her memory, Rory had left her White Arrow suit on her bed with a simple note and took off into the night. Leaving the suit behind meant that she had to leave her position with the Justice League behind along with her part-time position with the Outlaws. Every so often Jason and Roy would need her help with a mission and she would tag along, but not anymore.

Rory went by Ghost now, and her suit was different along with her mask. It covered her whole face now, so no one could define her by her features. She also didn't use her bow anymore, that was in Gotham as well or where she had left it. It was unknown to her if they had given the stuff she had left to Oliver or left it in the shared apartment she had with Tim.

Thinking about him brought a pang of hurt through her heart, she knew deep down what she did was wrong but it was for the best. He deserved so much better than her, Tim was worthy of a girl that didn't have someone trying to kill her every ten minutes. The last time she had seen him was the week before she had left Gotham. 

Rory and Tim had broken up and a week later she had snuck in to leave her suit and bow, after that Rory had booked the first flight out of Gotham and never looked back. She knew that he had looked for her because there were several close calls, but as she reinvented herself it was harder to tell where Rory ended and where Ghost began. The lines were starting to get blurred and Rory had a hard time remembering who she used to be.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she checked her burner phone for any updates from her computer that was running a scan through the city during the day. She hoped that it would be finished before nightfall because she would be able to follow the lead and then leave the city.

The walk back to her apartment was short, Rory had managed to memorize parts of the city within hours because she couldn't afford to get lost. Upon entering the building, screams were coming from down the halls and a mixture of people crying. It wasn't her business to intervene, not anymore. 

Ghost wasn't a hero or a vigilante, she was a mercenary; an assassin at most. She tiptoed the fine lines of the law when it came to what she did. Not many people had believed her to be real, convincing themselves she was just a ghost that came in the night and killed those who deserved it and taking others only for them to never be seen again. Ghost left no tracks and no trace that she was even there.

She was a literal ghost story.

Opening her door, she took her shoes off and put them to the side, and sat on her bed. The run earlier had kicked her ass, and she wanted to try and at least nap before she had to get ready to leave when the sunset. The second she closed her eyes, the computer dinged alerting her that there was a hit on the man she was trying to find.

With a groan, she sat up and took a look. The man she was looking for was named Steven James, and he was in NYC. According to her records, Steven was a supplier for the small ring of assassins that was based in New York. By the looks of it, he didn't even live that far from where she was staying which made this the perfect time to pay him a visit. 

For the next five hours, all she did was study this man and what made him tick. It would be sloppy if she didn't go in prepared, and it would cost her valuable time and possibly blow her cover. Once it got late enough, Rory had packed everything she kept with her into her suitcase and set it to the side ready to go when she got back. 

Walking to her closet, Rory slid into her suit and placed the mask on her face the red lenses adjusting and scanning everything there was in sight, from its structure down to its basic components. It was like she had a mini bat computer in her mask ready to use at her disposal.

Carefully, she strapped the handguns to her hips, and the rifle to her back, along with her two swords that were crisscrossed behind the larger gun. Pulling the hood over her hair, Ghost stepped out of the window and into the night. Looking at the tracker in her arm, she took off down the street as she ran across the rooftops her feet barely touching the floor. 

Her movements were quick and silent, it was something she prided herself on. Ghost watched the green blip get closer and closer before she eventually stood outside the building he lived in. He wasn't married and had no kids, which made this perfect for her. 

Ghost crouched down and pulled the sniper rifle off her back as she looked through the scope to see into the window, and there he was on the phone. She had a perfect shot from where she was, but he had the information she needed and she wasn't going to leave without it. Standing up, she sat the gun on her back once more before she dove off the roof and crashed through his window.

Steven jumped back and stared at her in shock, Ghost was real and she was in his apartment. "Where do those shipments come from?" she demanded, pulling out one of her swords and pointing it at him.

"I have no idea what the fuck you are talking about!" he said quickly, as he backed into the wall. Ghost frowned, and held it up to his throat and watched him swallow. She could tell he was lying, the sweat dripping down from his face along with his erratic breathing were signs. He also wasn't looking right at her, that was the for sure sign that he was lying.

"You do know what the fuck I am talking about, and I'm done playing nice." grabbing one of her spare daggers, she threw it into his shoulder hard enough that it pinned him to the wall as he let out a cry of pain. "Tell me where that shipment comes from and I'll kill you quick and painless." she bargained.

"You won't kill me! You heroes don't kill!" he snapped.

"Who said I'm a hero?" Ghost raised her sword and sliced across his side, watching him groan in pain as his shirt was covered in even more blood. "I'm not asking again, talk!" she demanded, the voice modulator making her sound deeper than her voice naturally was.

Steven shook visibly where he stood, it was clear to see who had paid him a visit and he knew that he wasn't going to make it out of this alive. With a shaky breath, he looked at her as Ghost's gaze bore into his soul judging him for all his past crimes.

"The shipment comes from Bludhaven, Tiger Shark supplies me with men, weapons, and even drugs to give to the people who buy from me," he said weakly. The loss of blood was getting to him, and he knew that he only had a few minutes left.

Ghost didn't move as she processed his words, this was going to send her to Bludhaven. A place she wanted desperately to avoid because of the people who lived there. "If you're lying to me, I'll make sure you regret it even in the afterlife." she threatened and slit his throat with her sword.

Grabbing her dagger, she watched as he slumped to the floor choking on his own blood. "See you in hell Steven." she took off out of the window and ran across the rooftops back to her apartment. It seemed that she needed to buy a bus ticket for Bludhaven.

Once she was back, Rory made quick work of changing and grabbing her stuff before she bought a ticket and was out the door. The nearest bus station was only a ten-minute walk away and the next bus left for Bludhaven in twenty, if she was quick enough she could get on that bus and leave New York City behind her.

Looking at the ticket she had bought, Rory laughed to herself at her own genius. The fake name she had chosen was Ariel King, not a far cry from Aurora Queen. But it was so obvious that it worked for her, and kept her hidden. Rory had several fake identities, and each one was different depending on how she looked.

When she had red hair, she was Ariel King. Blonde was Sarah Brooks, and when she had black hair she was Jessica Gold. Each one grew up in different areas that had different accents, and as Ariel, she was from Jersey so her accent had to be thick. It took her a bit, but once she had the accent going the key was to never shut up and that normally turned people away from her. 

The walk to the station was quiet and Rory was grateful for it, it gave her time to think and plan her next move. While she was in Bludhaven, she had to be extra careful. Ghost already had a run-in with Batman and Robin once before and she barely got out of it before they had caught up to her. In the last years, Damian had only gotten faster and stronger. He was sixteen now and had already passed her in height when she saw him last. He was going to be built bigger like his father and Jason were,

The last she knew, Dick was still the only one in Bludhaven but the second word got out the Ghost was in the Blud, it was only a matter of time before Bruce sent one of the others to try and take her down. Avoiding Nightwing was going to be hard enough, but if he had help then it was going to be nearly impossible.

"Ticket please?" 

Rory looked up and saw that she was at the ticket counter and didn't even notice. Time to act like her fake self right? "Oh my god, I love your ring! Who got it for you and where was it from? I have to have one like it!" she commented, her fake Jersey accent thick. "I love diamonds, my last guy had bought me a black one you know? He had told me that it was unique like me, but deep down I knew it was to match my black heart."

The lady looked uncomfortable from all her rambling and tried to usher her onwards. "Of course I dumped him days later because hello, you don't buy a gal a black diamond! She wants the real bling to show off to her gal pals you know!" she laughed and kept walking.

Rory shuddered, she hated acting like that but it kept people off of her trail. Once she got to Bludhaven, it was probably a good idea to change her hair color just in case someone had seen Ghost with the red hair. Once she was on the bus, Rory closed her eyes and leaned back. The bus ride was going to be a long one, and she needed to catch up on her sleep knowing what awaited her once she got off of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, I broke them up.  
> Ooops...


	3. Chapter Two

Rory took a deep breath, the smell of saltwater filling her nose as she stepped off of the bus. It was early morning in Bludhaven, and her goal was to get to an apartment and quickly before anyone began to notice her. Now that she was in a new city, Rory needed to get a new place to bunker down before she scouted the night. 

From her research, Dick had taken a job as a professional trainer during the day and still kept up as Nightwing at night. Her main priority was to make sure that she didn't bring any attention to herself and to get the info she wanted from Tiger Shark. Once that was done she could leave and never look back, not giving fate the chance to intervene. 

Her green eyes looked around and quickly caught a cab to an apartment that was renting out rooms before she could be recognized. Aurora Queen had been a big deal in these parts, and she could get recognized by some of her hardcore fans. It was imperative that she stayed hidden. 

The ride to the apartment building was quiet, the city seemed to be more relaxed in the early hours of the morning. It felt relaxed and almost serene as the city quieted down for the morning only to pick up hours later for the workday. She paid the driver and walked into the building quietly, as rented out the room on the top floor. It provided her with a quick get out in case she needed a quick getaway. 

Dragging her suitcase up, Rory unlocked the door and shut it behind her. The first thing she did was set up her computer, and download everything she could about Tiger Shark and what it was that he did in Bludhaven, to begin with. The deeper she looked, the more her stomach dropped. 

Tiger Shark seemed to be a thorn in Nightwing's side and had multiple encounters with Dick trying to stop him. This case just seemed to be getting better and better. Pulling up a map of the city, Rory looked for all routes to Marcus Casino that was located deep in the city to find the quickest way in and out of it.

The blueprints to the building seemed simple enough as well, his office was on the top floor and if she played her cards right Rory would be able to swing right on in. Pulling out her suit, she set it aside and checked it over for any rips or tears before she cleaned her guns to make sure they worked properly. 

If only her friends could see her now, they would die from a heart attack. Bruce had a no-gun rule, and Rory liked to follow it. At least when she was White Arrow, she did. But White Arrow didn't exist anymore. It seemed that she just wasn't meant to be an Arrow, white, or grey. All she was meant to be was nothing more than a ghost that haunted the memories of those she loved.

The day had passed quickly with all of her research, and she was ready to head out and take a look around. Donned in her suit, Ghost took to the rooftops once more and made her way to Tiger Shark's casino. It was on the other side of town, but she had no choice to go by rooftop. 

While she ran, Ghost couldn't help but feel that there was something there watching her. Of course, she stood out like a sore thumb, her pale white suit contrasted greatly against the night sky; it's what made her look like a ghost. It's where the legend came from as well. 

It all started when she went to Germany, there was a lot of open space for her to train herself in while she created a new suit and persona. She never wanted to abandon White Arrow, and so she took the color with her. It wasn't as bright as before, and she didn't even have a name when she first started.

Several civilians had seen her that first night she went out on patrol and claimed that they had seen a ghost, and that's the name she took seeing that it fitted what she wanted. The casino was in sight when she heard something come from her right. Without another thought, Ghost grabbed her sword and deflected whatever it was that was thrown at her.

Stopping in her tracks, she saw that it was similar to a Batarang but not. That was not a good sign. She didn't even have to look up to see who was standing on the other side of the roof, in fact, she could hear his breathing from where she stood.

"Seems that I caught a ghost, and I left my proton pack back at my place." he grinned. "Mind if we go fetch it?"

"This is your only warning Nightwing, do not get in my way. I'd hate to hurt such a pretty face," she said, her tone calm and even while her voice was disguised.

Nightwing laughed and stepped off the ledge towards her. "So she speaks, maybe the legends ring true after all. It is said that when you hear the Ghost's voice, you know your time on this earth is up for she is like the Grim Reaper."

Ghost frowned, still not moving. Deep down she knew that she could kick his ass in a fight, but didn't want it to come to that. If she let him get close enough, Dick could tell who she was. "The Grim Reaper is the bringer of death, and you don't want to cross his path or mine. Go back to your hero duties and leave me to mine." 

Before he could speak, she ran and dove off the roof. Nightwing ran after her only to see that she had disappeared into thin air like a ghost. "Well that complicates things," he muttered and pulled out his phone. 

"Hey B, it's me. I have something you might want to hear." 

Not wanting to take any more chances, Rory had gone straight back to her apartment. The one thing she didn't want to happen did, and she needed to get out of Bludhaven and fast. It was only a matter of time before he got help from one of the others, and that was going to make matters worse.

She needed the info from Tiger Shark and no one was going to stop her. 

As she feared, Dick did call Bruce and he sent Jason over to help try and stop her. Rory had refused to go out because there were now two vigilantes looking for her that could only spell trouble. For the next week, Rory would look out her window to see Nightwing and Red Hood out there looking for her, making her job harder.

The risks of her losing her window to get to Tiger Shark was growing smaller and smaller with each day she spent in Bludhaven, and the risk of getting found was only growing. As much as she used to tease them, Dick and Jason were not idiots. They were really good detectives and could sniff her out if she wasn't careful.

That was why when Rory did decide to go back out, she had brought a bag with her and stashed it in an abandoned building to change. The building was much closer to the casino, in fact, she could see it from the window. As she changed, Rory made sure that her weapons were ready to go in case things got ugly like they usually did.

Stepping out into the night, Ghost took off for the casino once again. She grappled across the buildings, coming to a stop on top of a skyscraper that stood across the street from the very casino she needed to get into. With a grin, she could clearly see Tiger Shark standing at his window while he talked on the phone probably to find out what had happened to Steven back in NYC.

Taking a deep breath, Ghost jumped off the building and flew through the air, and swung through his window. Tiger Shark took a step back and grinned. "I knew you were coming, my boy, Tommy said that they had found Steve dead in his apartment. From the lack of evidence, I knew it was you." he grabbed a glass and watched her.

"So, tell me what it is that you want sweetheart?" he asked, sipping the whiskey from his glass.

"Names, of all the men you supply with your weapons and drugs," she demanded.

"Oh, is that all? Why don't you have a seat while we talk this all through." before he took another sip, Ghost grabbed her handgun and shot the glass out of his hand, the bullet missing his head by inches. 

"Start talking, or the next one goes in your head." she snapped, cocking the gun.

Tiger Shark rubbed his finger together and stared her down. "Alright, I see that you don't play nice. FIne by me, but why should I give you something when I get nothing out of it?" he asked.

"You get a free pass out of this life and into the next, I find that generous." Ghost cocked her gun and narrowed her eyes. "I could have shot you from across the street, but I want my information first." 

"A free pass you say? Well, damn sweetheart, you might want to run that past my boys here," he said and grabbed a remote and pressed a button as several groups of men ran into the room armed to the teeth. Ghost eyed them all with a snarl, there was no way she was going to be able to fight them all off. 

The men closest to her, rushed at her as she dodged them all, jumping up and firing her gun at a few of them. They dropped to the floor holding their wounds as she landed on the table and pulled out her swords, slicing through anyone who came too close. Her actions were quick and calculated, not wanting to spill any unnecessary blood. Ghost looked around, she needed to get out and quick but she needed Tiger Shark first.

Looking to her right she saw two figures burst into the room from the same window she had, landing on a few of the men after her. Ghost growled and sliced two men in the side with her sword. Could this night get any worse? 

"Need a hand?" Nightwing called as he knocked out a few of his own. 

"Sure, keep them off my back. I have some business to attend to." without giving either him or Red Hood a chance to answer, Ghost jumped and ran after Tiger Shark that had snuck out within all the chaos. Following him down the stairs, she jumped and caught herself on the railing before pulling herself up in front of him.

"Well fucking hell, what do you want from me?" he asked. 

"The names and I will make this easier for both of us," she demanded, shooting a bullet through his thigh. Tiger Shark fell back with a scream and landed on the stairs and looked up at her. 

"You won't get those out of me!" he snarled.

Ghost grinned and leaned down. "I'll make you sing like a canary Tiger, and then you'll be begging me for death if you don't give them to me now." she threatened, her face right above his. 

Tiger Shark stared at her, his options were limited and knew that if he didn't talk then she would do much worse to him. But if he blabbed, his employers would do much worse to him if they ever found out. She was getting impatient, so she grabbed out a dagger and stabbed it into his knee, and began to twist it.

"I'm waiting."

Tiger Shark let out a scream of pain and tried to put her hand out, only for Ghost to punching him in the face and twist it deeper. The pain shot up through his body as he screamed, Ghost just standing there and watching. "It's some fancy-ass league!" he cried.

At his words, her hand stilled. "Some fancy-ass league?" she repeated.

He nodded. "Yes, every week they tell me what they want to be shipped out and I do it! I don't know what they are called, but that's it I swear! Now will you let me go?" he cried.

Ghost smirked and grabbed his collar, holding him over the railing. "Poor choice of words." Before she could let go, something shot past her head. Looking up, she saw Nightwing and Red Hood standing a few floors above her and they looked exhausted.

"Have fun boys" she called and dropped Tiger Shark down the stairs and took off. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Nightwing drop down to catch him which meant that Red Hood was following her. Quickly she dove through a door and searched for a way out, to get out of the building so she could disappear.

Across the room was a window, but another shot rang out and she felt a sharp pain shoot up her thigh. Ignoring the pain, Ghost kept running as her hair fell out from her hood the almost unnatural color shining in the lighting of the building. 

She stopped at the window and looked back to see Red Hood standing there with his gun aimed at her, and it was filled with live rounds and not just some rubber bullets this time. The hole in her leg was proof of it. "So, what do you plan on doing with me?" she asked, putting her hands in the air. 

"The usual, bring you to justice and all," he answered, and looked her over. "Nice guns though, where'd you find them?"

"A friend showed me a good place to shop," she replied, laughing at the irony of the fact that it had been him who had shown her. 

"Your friend has good taste, now be good, and I won't have to shoot you again," he said as Nightwing rejoined them and noticed the hole in her leg.

"I thought we told you to be careful?" he asked, looking at Red Hood.

"That was careful! She's not dead!" Red Hood answered, looking at Nightwing. 

Leave it to Bruce to send two brothers on a mission to capture her, and they start fighting on the job. It was a miracle anything got done in Gotham. Using their distracted nature to her advantage, Ghost pulled out the gun from her holster and aimed it at the window behind her back.

"I hate to break this up, but I have places to be." she shot the window and jumped out it, grappling to the next roof. She landed with a grunt, gripping her bad leg as she ran to find a place to hide. 

Ghost knew that they were right behind her, and so she needed to act quickly. Looking around the roof, she tried to find a place to hide but was too late before she heard footsteps behind her. "I doubt you are going far with a hole in your leg." Red Hood commented.

She stood up straight and turned to look at them slightly as she reached for her sword. "I don't want to hurt either of you, but I will if I have to." 

"Oh, you don't want to hurt us? That's a relief, but what the hell was that you did with Tiger Shark back there?" Nightwing demanded. Ghost just shrugged it off. 

"A necessity," she answered.

"For what exactly? Trying to take out a ring the hard way?" 

"That's my business and mine alone." She answered, and quickly she turned on her heel and shot two bullets, the first one going into Red Hood's leg and the other grazing Nightwing on the side. She didn't want to really hurt them, just slow them down. But she did want to get Red Hood back for shooting her in the leg, it was only fair. 

Taking their moment of shock, Ghost jumped off the roof and ran down the street as she ignored the pain in her leg. The amount of time she had before they tried to track her down was minimal, but she had to get out and make sure they didn't find her. That was the last thing she wanted, to see their faces after they realized who she was and what she had done. 

Rory wasn't the same person they had met all those years ago, she wasn't the same girl they had helped train to be a better hero. She had to abandon all her principles, it was one of her well-known traits for if she really wanted to hide she had to become the opposite of what she was; a killer.

It took her longer than she had wanted for her to get back to the building she stashed her stuff, but with Nightwing and Red Hood on her tail, it was hard to do. And that same feeling that someone was watching her that she felt on the first night she was in town had come back as well. Rory ruled out Nightwing because he was halfway across town looking for her now, and Red Hood was with him. So who was watching her?

Changing back into civilian clothes, Rory patched up her leg the best she could with the supplies she had packed. It kept the bleeding down, but she was going to need to stitch it up when she got back. 

Public transport was not an option she was willing to take right now, it was too crowded, and didn't want anyone to risk the slow-growing bloodstain on her pants. Rory knew that they had seen her red hair, and enough time had passed to know that they would be looking for a redhead with a limp in her left leg. That was why she ignored the pain as much as she could as she walked through the streets.

In hindsight, turning down a dark alley was not a good idea. Rory should have seen it coming, but she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to even process it until it was too late. Someone indeed was watching her, and they had taken this chance to grab her. 

A hand clamped itself over her mouth as she tried to fight it off. A mugging was the last thing Rory wanted, it would bring more unwanted attention from Nightwing and Red Hood. As her captors drug her deeper into the alley they pushed her onto her knees, gripping her hair to make her look up and Rory's heart dropped at what was before her. 

In front of her stood a woman she had only heard about, but never seen and frankly never wanted to. Rory had heard plenty of stories about her from Roy, after all, he did date her for a while. She wore her usual green robes and stared down at Rory with a malicious grin hidden by her cat mask that was unnerving to see.

"Cheshire, glad to finally meet you," she growled.

"Likewise, White Arrow." Cheshire hummed, aiming her sword at Rory's throat. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get a little more detail in this chapter about what she is doing and why. Don't worry, Tim will make his appearance soon but not yet. I have a few more things to do before he comes into the scene.
> 
> But we saw Nightwing and Red Hood! And she shot them, but that's beside the point.


	4. Chapter Three

"You have given us quite the chase dear Aurora, I'm quite surprised that you were able to hide for such a long time. A few of us actually thought that you were dead." Cheshire grinned, using her sword to tilt Rory's head up ever so slightly. 

"Well, that was kind of the point. I disappear long enough that everyone thinks I'm dead. It gets you off my tail and keeps the ones I love safe, one of them you were close to at one point." Rory remarked.

At the mention of Roy, Cheshire's body went stiff and her sword pressed against her chin harder as it slowly drew small beads of blood that trailed down her neck. "I have half a mind to kill you now Aurora, but several people would quite upset with me if I took that privilege from them."

"Let me guess, one of them being Ra's Al Ghul?" she asked, not flinching at the loss of blood. 

"That, and a man you know as Slade Wilson. I hear the two of you have unfinished business?" Cheshire asked.

"Unfinished is severely understating it. He murdered my parents, and my friend and has taunted me for years. But the next time I see him, Slade is going down for good." she growled. At her words, the assassins that held her arms back tightened their grip on her in anticipation that she would break free. 

"Your parents were cold-blooded killers themselves, I was summoned to find you, and find you I did. The Demon's Head has come to a conclusion, you either join the league or you will die." Cheshire stared down Rory, her eyes narrowing at the frown on her face. She was warned that Aurora Queen will not come easily, in fact, it was Malcolm Merlyn that had warned her. 

Rory glared at Cheshire as her chest heaved in anger. So that's what this was all about, trying to get her to join the league or be put down for reasons unknown. Did they think she was too dangerous to live out of their control or was it something to do with her parents instead?

"Seeing as neither of those is on my list of things to do, I pick the option where you let me go and I kick your ass." she grinned and threw her head back, breaking the nose of the person behind her. Their grip on her faltered and she got to her feet and kicked the other two back.

Rolling to her left, Rory grabbed the sword that stuck out of her bag and held it up as Cheshire's came into contact with it.

"You really don't want to do this Aurora." she taunted, a grin on her face.

"Oh, but I really do Jade. I'll make sure to tell Roy you said hi." Rory grabbed the dagger hidden in the back of her pants and threw it, the dagger landing just above Cheshire's right knee. It didn't make her reel back in pain, but it gave Rory the opening she needed to turn and kick her back and fight off the other five assassins that were there still.

Each of them had a sword and was trained to kill. Rory didn't want to stoop that low once more, but her options were running out. Grabbing the second one out of her bag, Rory blocked the attacks that came from in front of her and behind her and pushed them back. Rolling to the left, she sliced the ankle of one of them as she got hit in the upper arm. 

She shook off the pain and kicked back another before she got sliced in the thigh, right above the bullet wound she had gotten from Jason earlier that night. Rory fell to her knees and was kicked onto her back to see that Cheshire stood above her. At this point, Rory was covered in various cuts across her body.

"I hate to leave you like this, but maybe you and I will cross paths in the future." Rory watched as she raised her sword and stabbed her through the side, letting out a cry of pain as she dug in deeper with the sword. 

Cheshire pulled it out and saluted Rory and took off into the night with the other assassins behind her. Slowly, Rory pushed herself up as she grabbed her swords and crawled over to where her bag was. There was no way she was going to get out of this one on her own, she needed help.

Rory gripped her side which was bleeding profusely, her left hand shaking as she tried to keep pressure. Black spots danced in her vision as she fished for her phone hidden in her utility belt, her head going fuzzy from the loss of blood. Blood smeared across the screen as she dialed the first number that came to mind. "Hey," she breathed. 'It's me."

_"Rory? Why the hell are you calling me?"_

She took a deep breath, her voice cracking as she spoke. "I-I need help." she rasped.

_"Keep your phone on, and I'll find you."_

Minutes had passed and she held her phone tightly in her hand when Rory heard footsteps coming up the alley. She had set herself up to lean against the wall, with her bag at her side and all her stuff stashed in it. She could no longer feel her legs anymore, her whole boy was going numb as she bled out against the wall.

A hand pressed against her neck to check her pulse and she saw the blue eyes of Dick Grayson in front of her with a worried expression on his face.

"What the fuck have you gotten yourself into this time?" he whispered to himself more than to her. 

"Do-Don't tell anyone I'm here... please." she pleaded, her voice was weak and wavered with each word she spoke. Dick let out a sigh and picked her up, and carried her to his place quickly. It wasn't every day your brother's ex-girlfriend came back from the supposed dead to ask you for help

She was in bad shape, and Dick was scared to ask why. What had she done to herself in the year she disappeared, and why now of all times did she decide to show up out of the blue and ask that he didn't tell anyone she was in town. 

The run to his place was quick and Dick kicked the door open and set her on the couch carefully, Rory had passed out in his arms not long after he found her. She had lost quite a bit of blood already, and he could see where the main wounds were from. 

He tried to keep her clothes on as modestly as he could while he stitched up the hole in her side and the gunshot wound in her leg. As he worked, he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to Rory's sudden appearance in Bludhaven and the wounds she had on her body. It was also weird to see her without her natural hair color, she must have dyed her hair and put in contacts so no one would recognize her. But that would mean she was hiding, but from who and why?

Letting out a sigh, Dick finished wrapping her up and put his head between his legs. Jason was out getting food, and Dick knew that he would flip if he saw Rory there especially in the condition she was in. She had asked not to tell anyone she was there, but how would she know that he was even talking to the others at all?

Rory woke almost an hour later, rubbing her eyes with a groan. Slowly she sat up and winced, looking down at her stomach it was wrapped tightly in gauze and bandages along with her thigh and other wounds were patched up nicely. She was in a bed that she could only assume that belonged to Dick, he must have set her thereafter he patched her up. Looking to her left there was a stack of clothes there with a note.

_"Put these on, we need to talk."_

_~Dick_

Rory bit her lip, that didn't sound good at all. She was sure that he had questions, but it was unknown what his questions were about. For all she knew, it could be about why she broke up with Tim in the first place and then disappeared a week later. None of those were questions she was wanting to answer. 

But none the less, Rory had to do it or he would hunt her down and hold her captive until she talked. Grabbing the shirt, she threw it on along with the sweats that were set aside. Looking at it, they were obviously Dick's clothes. Hers must have been ruined from all the blood she had lost. Slowly, she stood up and walked out the door and into the kitchen area where she saw Dick was waiting for her sat at the table with a displeased look on his face.

"I see you're awake, you have any idea how hard it is to keep Jason out of the house? You better start explaining and fast," he said, crossing his arms. 

Rory sat at the table with a wince. "Before we start, I want to thank you. I have given none of you a reason to help me, especially with how I left things but that doesn't mean I am not grateful," she said, looking at him.

"No, you really haven't given us any reason to help you. Be happy Jason isn't here, he would probably kick your ass for what you did." his tone was harsh and she deserved it. What she did to them, especially to Tim wasn't easily forgiven.

Rory sat there silently for a few moments. Dick had every right to be mad at her, she broke his brother's heart and ripped it out of his chest. But it was the only way to make sure he didn't follow her when she did leave "What do you want to know Dick?" she asked, playing with her fingers.

"I want to know where the hell you have been, and why you decide to call me in the middle of the night to come to help you," he asked.

Rory swallowed. "I've been around the world, taking care of things." she started. "I got cornered by someone and they outsmarted me. I called you because I knew you wouldn't leave me there and you were the closest. I had no idea Jason was in town." she lied about the last part. Her main goal was to keep Ghost a secret from him and anyone else who knew her.

"Who cornered you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I have no idea, I just know they wore a mask so I couldn't see their face." another lie, she had done it so much that it was becoming second nature to her and was something she was afraid of.

"Why are you wearing contacts, and why is your hair red?" 

"I couldn't do what I needed to do as Aurora Queen. I needed to hide my identity so I wasn't caught," she answered, probably the only thing she hasn't lied about so far.

"Alright, final question. Why the fuck are you lying to me?"

Rory's heart stopped and her eyes widened as she looked up at him. How the hell could he tell that she was lying, and what did he know was the lie?

"You really think I couldn't tell when you are lying? Rory, I was trained by Batman and have four younger brothers and two sisters. Of course, I can tell when you are lying, I was always able to." Dick grabbed the bag off the floor and threw it onto the table. Rory looked and saw that it was her bag, that held her suit and weapons. "Why don't we start with this." 

She sat there quietly, refusing to speak. How was she going to get herself out of this one, especially when Dick had caught her in the act of lying and had proof that she was the one under the mask all this time? "What about it Grayson?" she snapped.

"What about it? How about, how long have you been Ghost and why did you tell none of us?" he asked. Dick was quickly getting irritated, Rory was throwing lie after lie at him and it ground his gears. How could someone he trusted with his life lie to him so easily like it was second nature?

"I don't see how that's any of your business, and why the hell did you go through my stuff?" she snapped looking up at him. 

"I was worried about you, and I wanted to see if you had any spare clothes of your own. What I didn't plan to find was the mask you hide yourself so well behind." he threw the mask for her suit onto the table and it rattled against the wood as the red lenses stared back up at her.

"I don't have to explain myself, or my motives to you. You know my big secret Dick, what are you going to do now? Tell Bruce, tell Tim or worse tell Oliver, Dinah, and Roy? Are you really going to crush the beliefs they held about me? I'm sure a few of you thought I was dead, but are you ready to bring up old wounds and tell them that I'm an assassin?" she demanded, getting up from her seat.

Dick got up, his face a mixture of pain and sorrow. How had Rory gotten to this place, the last time he had seen her she was living the life. She had a position on the Justice League, she had her life with Tim and had gotten the closure she needed for the death of her parents and the family she had killed. But, now here she was three years later, running around the world killing people again.

"Why won't you let us help you?" he asked.

"Oh, now you want to help me? Make up your mind Richard! First, you say that I don't deserve your help and now you are offering it at the drop of a hat. I don't want help, not from you or any of the others. I told you not to tell anyone because they would all react worse than you are right now. The things I am doing, I do for a reason." she snapped and grabbed her bag and her mask. 

How could she expect any of them to understand, the things she was doing was to keep them safe. The league had found her, and if they knew that she was back in contact with any of them again, it would put a target on their backs. Before she could say anything, there was a noise on the other side of the door. 

Rory's head snapped up, Jason must be back from all the errands Dick had sent him on and from the sound of it, he wasn't alone. She looked at Dick with a panicked expression, Jason and whoever else was on the other side of the door could not know she was there. Dick pointed at his room.

"Hide in there, I'll get rid of them," he said quickly. 

She nodded and walked as quickly as she could back into Dick's room and shut the door right as Jason walked in. 

Dick looked at Jason who had Roy at his side. "Thanks for getting everything Jaybird," he said, forcing a smile on his face. It didn't last long when both he and Roy froze walking into the apartment. 

"Who else is here Dickiebird?" Jason asked. Looking around there were rags of blood in the sink along with shreds of clothing that were also covered in blood. Just by looking, he could tell that they were too small to belong to Dick, to begin with. 

"No one else is here." Dick lied.

Jason gave him a look. "You can't lie to me, and you didn't cover your tracks well. I know you are a slob, but the rags and clothes in the sink are not from you. Last I checked, you weren't the one who got shot in the leg." 

"Speaking of which, how is that?" Roy asked.

"Hurts like hell, Ghost is a real pain in the ass. The next time I see her, she'll get what she deserves. But that doesn't answer my question, who are you hiding Dick and where are they?" he asked once more.

Rory looked and saw the window, she could try and sneak out but the risk of making a noise they would notice would be too high. But what other choice did she have? Slowly she walked over to the window and began to open it. She hadn't even started to push it open when the door slammed open and there stood Jason and Roy.

Jason stared at the person in the bedroom in shock, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating from the pain killers but there she was plain as day. Rory Queen stared back at him with different eyes and hair, and she was wearing Dick's clothes.

At first, he didn't know what to think. Did she leave Tim for Dick? If so, why did she change her hair and wear contacts? A whole year without contact, and all of a sudden there she was trying to go out of the window. Roy dropped what he was holding at the sight of his younger sister. 

"Rory?" he asked quietly.

She gave them both a sheepish grin. "Hey guys, fancy meeting you here?" she chuckled weakly. 

Jason frowned and stormed into the room, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her to the wall roughly, Rory letting out a whimper of pain. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped. Jason was angry with her, Rory was one of the few people he fully trusted and she had basically stabbed them all in the back when she hurt Tim and skipped town.

Rory sprang into action with Dick right behind him. "Jason, what the hell are you doing? It's Rory!" he cried trying to pry his best friend off of her. 

"Let her go, you're hurting her!" Dick said.

Jason let her go, but his gaze didn't let up. "Why the hell is she here in your room, wearing your clothes Dick?" he demanded, his eyes not leaving Rory's scared face.

"It's not like that Jay, I swear! the bloody rags are from her!" Dick said quickly.

"What?!" Roy yelled. "Rory, what the hell did you do?" he looked at her, Rory seemed overwhelmed. Her eyes were wide and she wanted nothing but to curl up and hide. This was getting to be too much for her, Rory hadn't had this much confrontation in one night in a very long time and she was starting to freak out.

Jason saw her facial expressions, and he backed off as Rory slid down the wall. Roy knelt before her and took her hands trying to calm her down. Whatever happened to her in the last year had really messed her up, she wasn't the same person as before and it was plain to see.

Once Roy got her to calm down, he carefully helped her up and to sit on the bed as Jason took in more of her appearance. Rory looked different and was injured quite a bit, if he didn't know better he would think that she was still a vigilante but he did know better.

He eyed the way she moved, as Rory favored her right leg with the left one clearly injured as she refused to stand on it. She was avoiding the use of her left leg, which was the same leg he had shot Ghost in earlier that same night. She even had the same shade of red hair, but some things still didn't add up. 

If Rory was Ghost, why would she not tell them about it?

Jason looked at Dick to try and see if he knew anything and judging by the look on his face he did know something. Before he and Roy arrived, something had happened between Dick and Rory and Jason could tell that it wasn't good.

"Rory, what the hell happened to you?" Roy asked, looking at her. His eyes were full of worry and it made Rory feel guilty for lying to him about everything and up and ditching him as well. She couldn't be honest with them about why she ran, it would only put them in danger and she couldn't have that on her conscience; not when it was full of all the wrong she had done.

"You need to leave Roy," she said softly. "You all need to let me leave and not try and find me again." 

"What the fuck have you gotten yourself into Twinkle Toes?" he snapped.

"It's nothing you need to know about Roy!" she yelled. "I can't tell you, you'll never look at me the same way again."

Roy and Jason shared a look, with every word she was only confirming his suspicion but what he didn't know was why she had become Ghost in the first place? Was someone making her, did they have some sort of leverage to make her do it; or did she do this of her own accord?

Going out on a limb, Jason asked the only question he could. "Rory, I'm going to only ask you this once and you better answer me," he said slowly. "Are you Ghost?"

Rory's head snapped up, her eyes glancing at Dick who only shook his head. He hadn't have told Jason, but they both knew that he was not an idiot. The evidence was staring them all in the face and Jason was the one to put it together without going through her bag.

Her silence, but look of surprise had answered the question for him. Roy looked confused as hell, he had only heard mentions of Ghost but he thought her to but nothing more than a story. Hearing that his best friend, his little sister was the assassin known as Ghost was a different kind of shock.

"Yes," she answered quietly.

"Is someone making you do this?" he asked. This was the question he really wanted her to answer. It would give them all an estimation of her situation and why she possibly left, but they were all surprised once again when she shook her head. 

"No, this was something of my choosing." 

"Something of your choosing, Rory what the hell does that mean? You left to become an assassin, is that what you are saying?" Roy asked, getting to his feet as he looked down at her.

The looks Dick, Jason and Roy had on their faces only made her feel worse. This was one of the reasons she had left, she didn't want to see the disappointment on their faces when they found out the truth. 

"I need to leave, please" she pleaded. "The longer I am here, the worse the consequences will be."

"You're unbelievable!" Jason cried. "First you break Tim's heart out of the blue and then you disappear! The next thing we know is that you show up after a year and you're Ghost, the same Ghost who had murdered people around the world. And now you want us to just let you leave?" he snapped looking down at her.

"If I remember right, you were no better at one point Jason Todd." Rory rose to her feet with a hard glare. "Be lucky I only shot your leg, I could have killed you but I didn't because I still care about your dumb ass." 

She had to push them all away, to keep them safe. If making them hate her was the best option, then so be it. Rory had to be brutal, that was the only way she could.

"I dumped Tim because I couldn't lie to myself about how I felt anymore and it wasn't fair to me or him. I left town because I wanted to be alone, and during that time I had a lot to think about. The only way to get rid of crime, gangs, and secret societies was to take them out one by one and dwindle their numbers." she snapped. "It finally caught up to me after I escaped from the two of you, if you were smart you'd stay away from me and my plan. Next time, I won't be so generous." 

Rory pushed past them all and grabbed her bag once more before she walked to the door. "Stop trying to save someone who doesn't want it." and with that, she left the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got a little more, and now Dick, Jason, and Roy all know part of her big secret! Only time will tell when the rest of it comes to light! Sorry about all the angst in here too, but Rory has to do what she feels is best for her and those she cares about even if it means making them hate her. We'll get a little more detail about what happened between her and Tim later as well.


	5. Chapter Four

Rory stared at herself in the mirror, her hair was no longer red. It was not the darkest shade of black that she could dye it to and her eyes were a piercing blue to contrast it. After her run-in with Dick and Jason, Rory had to change what she looked like and fast. She didn't know if they were going to try and keep tabs on her, or even tell Bruce what they knew. The only thing she wanted was neither Tim nor Oli to find out about her secret. 

Roy knowing was bad enough, he had gotten the number she used to call Dick and wouldn't stop calling her as he tried to get her to open up. It had gotten so bad that she disconnected the number and got a new burner phone, ditching the last one in the canals in Venice. 

That's where she currently was; Venice, Italy. Tiger Shark wasn't exactly clear about what League he was working for, but after Cheshire's visit later that night her suspicions were confirmed. Her intel had told her that there was a hidden base somewhere in Venice and she was going to find it. 

Running her hand through her damp, freshly-dyed hair she winced. At this rate, her hair was going to be damaged forever with how much she dyed it different colors. The best option was to enlist a magician, but the best ones worked for the League or at least knew Zatanna, and Rory was not going to risk the Justice League finding out about this or they too would try and put a stop to her. It was a surprise she had stayed off their radar for so long. 

Maybe they had bigger fish to fry, or just maybe someone was keeping her off their radar. Either way, she was grateful.

There were still six hours until sundown and she was in one of the biggest tourist capitals of the world. Multiple movies had been filmed here, she even had a mission with the League here as well. She and Tim had talked about coming to Venice for a weekend, to get away from their crazy life but it had never happened. Rory dumped him before they could fully make any plans.

Grabbing a hairdryer, she dried her hair to try and make the dye stick faster and got dressed in the most casual clothes she could find. Her eyes glazed over the small box that was set aside that was normally tucked away in her bag, it kept the things she held most precious to her that Rory couldn't part with no matter how painful the memories were.

With a sigh, she walked over and opened it slowly, and looked at the contents inside. The first item was her mother's bracelet, the silver band that had various charms on it now from Barbara, Cass, Steph, Donna, Zatanna, Dinah, and Diana. They had all given her a charm the represented themselves for her to clip onto it. Her fingers grazed over the charms, remembering each moment she had received them from. 

Setting it to the side, she found the vintage daisy necklace Tim had gotten her from that store three years ago. He knew that daisies were her favorite, so he got her the necklace as a gift. That was the day he had taken her around the city before finally asking her to move in with him.

Underneath that was the golden rose necklace he had also gotten her for their six months anniversary. The rose was still in perfect condition, it was something she didn't want to wear many places in case something bad had happened and she could risk losing it. The red of the petals stood out against the gold of the stem and her eyes began to water.

The last item in the box had her choking back sobs, at the bottom was the black diamond ring he had gotten her. They promised that they would be together through everything, a promise she had broken. Rory still loved Tim with all her heart, he was the one for her but she knew he would be better off without her. It was still in perfect condition, the diamond was still shining in the light with the silver band polished nicely. 

Wiping away the tears, she set each item back in the box and tucked it into her bag before she grabbed her sunglasses and hit the streets of Venice. The first thing she did was stop at a bar and ordered three cocktails for herself. Rory had a high alcohol tolerance and with the sudden surge of emotion, she wanted to wipe it away with liquor and bad company. 

Every time something like this happened, where she began to miss Tim and everyone she had left behind; Rory would drink until she got tipsy enough to not care about who she got into bed with. Sometimes it was a man, sometimes it was a woman and on occasion, it was with multiple people. Whatever she could do to get them out of her head, she would do it because she wanted nothing more than to forget and indulge in life's pleasures to rid herself of the pain.

Even though she was drinking, Rory had a clear mind. She kept an eye out for anything that looked suspicious, or even remotely related to the League of Assassins. It was still the middle of the day, so she couldn't just walk around in her suit but she could do some low-level recon while she waited and drank her sorrows away.

Even after she finished her cocktails, Rory walked around the city pretending to be some tourist that was amazed by the sights of Venice. She noticed about a mile back that someone had been following her, had been since the first bar she went to. Deep down she had hoped it was someone looking for a good time, but with her luck it was probably someone after her, to kill her once again.

Turning the corner, Rory slipped out the dagger from her belt and held it at the ready. Minutes later, the person turned and saw her there waiting for them. Turns out it had been a guy that was taller than she was with a lean muscular build, blonde hair, and hazel eyes. Rory had to admit he wasn't bad to look at, but he had been following her for a reason and she wanted to know why. 

His eyes narrowed at her once he noticed she was waiting for him and he stuck his hand out to hit her, as Rory turned away and punched him in the throat and held him against the wall, pressing the dagger into his stomach, but not breaking the skin yet.

"You'll do as I say, or I'll kill you right here," she growled, her face inches from his. 

The guy glared, only for her to press it deeper into his side. "Alright fine," he muttered, his accent thick from a different country altogether. He sounded almost English, but she could be wrong and he was faking it the whole time.

"Put your hands on my waist and make it look like we are having a good time." she grinned.

He only glared harder at her, before his large hands took her waist and pulled her against him. Rory dug into his side deeper. "The look on your face isn't very convincing." she taunted with a grin.

Rory smiled wider when she saw him fake a grin, even adding a laugh with it. "Good, now you're going to tell me who the fuck you are and why you were following me," she muttered, leaning in to whisper into his ear.

To the untrained eye, Rory and this guy looked like they were your average couple touring the city and had stopped for an intimate moment together. 

"I was told to by a mutual friend of ours," he growled, gripping her waist tighter as she trailed the dagger up his side slowly underneath his shirt.

"Which friend, I don't have many of them left anymore," she said. "And remember, be honest." 

The guy she was holding captive, leaned in towards her ear as he kept an eye out. "Ra's Al Ghul sends his regards," he muttered.

It was like she had thought, he knew she was on their trail now. It was only going to make things harder on her to try and stop them not only from killing her but the other people she cared about. 

Rory let out a chuckle, "Tell him that he can go rot in hell if there even is a place for a decrepit old man like himself." she muttered. Without another thought, Rory reeled back her fist and punched him hard enough that he was out in one hit. It was something Kon had taught her, and it paid off really well when she was in these situations.

Flipping her hair back, she watched as the body crumpled to the floor. Rory wasn't going to kill him, it wasn't necessary to. The message had come across nicely, and she wanted to avoid doing it at all costs. There was only so much of her soul she could sacrifice before she lost herself completely.

With those dark thoughts, Rory was quickly sobered as she made it out within minutes as she walked back to her personal hotel room across the city. The alcohol was out of her system now and all that was left was a killer headache in its place. It was stupid to try and get drunk while she was working, but Rory had nothing else to do. No friends left, no family to talk to and it was all her fault and it was a decision she was going to have to live with.

Once she got back, Rory walked into the bathroom before she got ready to check out that hidden base she was staking out. If everything went right, then Rory could fall off the face of the earth again and hide until they lost her trail.

The new color of her hair stood out against her skin as she stared at herself in the mirror. It had made her look almost ghost-like and she laughed internally at the thought that she truly looked like a ghost now. 

She was dressed quickly and by the time she was finished, the sun had set and Venice was lit up with all kinds of lights. People were still all across the city in restaurants and bar drinking and dining. Rory wished she could just leave all of this behind, but with what her life was like it was something she was never going to get. 

Jumping off of the railing, Ghost pulled herself up onto the roof and rolled onto her knees as she took a quick look around. The league knew she was in town, and there was no doubt that they had a general idea of where her hotel was but she wasn't going to let that stop her.

Taking off into a sprint, Ghost darted across the roofs as fast as she could not wanting to take the chance of being captured. The League of Assassins was fast, but she was faster. The base was under Saint Marcos Square, and the only way in was through the building across from it that had a secret panel that she could hack into to get access into the pathway underground.

She wove through streets and jumped across roofs and canals, her swords on her back, and her handguns on her hips. Stopping above the square, Ghost looked around to make sure the area was empty before she quietly jumped down, landing in a roll. Her eyes scanned the area through the red lenses in her mask, analyzing everything in sight.

It seemed that no one had come through in the last thirty minutes, but that meant someone was going to show up soon so she needed to take her chance. Getting to her feet, she ran into the building and quietly shut the door behind her. The panel was across the hall and she pulled out her hacking device and scanned the panel to get past the biometric scan.

Her device lit up green and the door opened and Ghost slipped before it could shut on her. The pathway was dark, and it resembled much like the one she had found under Amusement Mile years ago that led into the sewer where she was almost eaten alive by Killer Croc. That wasn't something she wanted to remember for sure.

Turning on the night vision in her mask, Ghost slowly walked down the ladder and followed the path as it twisted and turned through the sewers. From first glance, she could tell that it was an old secret base, most of the carvings dated back centuries, and Ra's Al Ghul was centuries years old as well. 

Ghost avoided stepping in any puddles, it would provide sound and give away her location. Not that the scurrying rats didn't do that already. She walked as slow as she could, and grinned when she saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It had to be the real entrance to the secret base and she was going to get in and take it down once and for all.

She came upon a large wooden set of doors with ancient carvings on them, with torches lit at their sides. This had to be the way in, but once she was inside there was no turning back. Slowly she creaked the door open and slipped through it and hid in the shadows as it shut quietly behind her.

The pathway was lit with torches that decorated the wall, and there seemed to be no places to hide. Ghost had to make a straight shot for the first door without being caught and if she was, that's what her swords and daggers were for. Quietly she crept down the hall, her right hand on one of her swords ready to attack just in case.

Ghost had the feeling that she was being watched once again, but it didn't matter where she looked there was no one in sight. It was just her in the hallway, or so she thought. Whoever was following her was good, so good in fact that she didn't even hear them approach her from behind.

A hand wrapped around her mouth and pulled her back into a room, locking the door behind them. Her left hand slipped the dagger out of her sleeve and slashed at the person behind her, making them jump away as she rolled to get a distance from them. 

In front of her stood a man that was taller than she was, dressed in the uniform from the league. It would explain how he had gotten so close to her without noticing. Ghost pulled out her sword and held it out in front of her as a warning. "Any closer, and I'll kill you." she threatened.

"Oh I have no doubt about that Aurora, but is that any way to greet an old friend?" he asked, pulling the mask off his face. She let out a sigh and loosened her stance once she saw the man behind the mask. 

"Malcolm Merlyn, and to what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked, pulling the mask off her face.

He looked her over with an approving gaze. "It seems you have taken more of my training to heart, you have most of the world fooled that White Arrow and Ghost are two different people. You are unrecognizable, that is to everyone but the person who trained you to be this way." he grinned.

"I would thank you, but what you turned me into during that year with the Ninth Circle was not something I ever wanted to go back to. I can add you to the list of people that do know who I am, and I swear that if you so much a breathe to anyone about this I will cut out your tongue," she growled, her blue eyes narrowing at him.

Malcolm let out a chuckle. "Don't worry Aurora, no one knows about you to my knowledge except for Roy, Dick Grayson, and Jason Todd of course. You really messed that one up now didn't you?"

"You drug me in here for a reason Merlyn, now talk." she snapped. 

He sighed and dropped his head to the side. "You are a lot less fun now, but none the less. I wanted to warn you, you aren't the only intruder tonight in this base. I would suggest you don't get caught, no one tells Ra's Al Ghul no when he offers them a spot in the League and lives to tell the tale."

"I didn't tell him no, I said he could go rot in hell." Rory corrected. "But who else is here?" 

"Now why would I give away the surprise? After all, you know them quite well." he grinned, placing the mask back on his face. "Find the quickest way out, they know you are here and they are hunting you down as we speak." 

"Why are you warning me?" she asked, watching him with wary eyes. 

"Because, as much as you and I are at odds there are things even I wouldn't subject you to the things that Ra's will. Get out, and get out quickly. You have a limited amount of time before they find you here." Malcolm turned and walked out the door leaving Rory there with her thoughts.

This whole mission was a bust then, they knew she was inside and they were looking for her. But she was smart, and if she was able to get even a little bit of information that could bring down the League, it was worth the risk right? 

Putting the mask back on, Ghost walked out of the room and ran down the hall quickly. Malcolm was warning her and for good reason, but she had to get something while she was here. This whole trip to Venice was not going to be for nothing. Ghost was going to get something to help her case, and then she was going to leave.

At the end of the hall, there was a large open room that was filled with tens of dozens of assassins that seemed to be fighting off one person in the middle. It seemed that no one had noticed her there, to begin with so she crept around the outside of the room, keeping aware of her surroundings. 

The figure in the middle was hidden behind all the assassins, but when Ghost caught a glimpse of his black cape her heart stopped and she froze in place. There was no way in hell he was here too, it was impossible that he was in the same secret base she was. Either someone tipped him off, or it was fate twisting the knife deeper into her heart. 

In the middle of the room stood Red Robin with an improved looking suit fighting off the hoard of assassins. This was what Merlyn was talking about when he said that he didn't want to ruin the surprise, he knew that Red Robin was here and that he was her ex-boyfriend.

She needed to get out and fast before he could see her and start putting the pieces together. He knew her better than anyone and was able to tell her apart just from the shape of her body he knew her that well. Turning on her heel, Ghost sprinted out of the room and down the hall before she was stopped by a group of assassins who pushed her back into the open room with the larger group and began to try and take her down. 

Ghost had no choice, it was either fight or die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tim is back! Yay! Rory is being hunted by the league, so that causes A LOT of drama let me tell you. I really enjoyed writing this one, especially with her interaction with Malcolm earlier. He would be one of few people to recognize her, he is somewhat responsible for Ghost and who she is as a person.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this, the next one is going to be fun (I think)


	6. Chapter Five

Ghost let out a growl, Merlyn had told her to not get found let alone caught, and yet here she was; found and about to be caught.

"Duck!" 

On instinct, Ghost ducked as a round disc flew through the air and hit one of the assassins in front of her as she swung her leg around, knocking two of them off their feet before she shot them in the legs. 

"What the hell are you doing here Red Robin?" she snapped, kicking back another. 

"I could ask you the same thing Ghost," he called back, as he vaulted over his bo staff and took out three more. They seemed to not stop, they were in a secret base after all full of the assassins that were looking for her specifically.

"We both get out of this alive, and I will let you ask one free question," she said, shooting two more in the legs.

Ghost was very apprehensive with her moves, fighting alongside Red Robin was almost too natural for her. She knew all of his moves, even going as far as teaching him some of them. If she made the wrong move, he would know who she is in seconds. 

Grabbing a dagger from her belt, Ghost threw one as it landed in the shoulder of one of the assassins as she looked around for a way out. It was going to be hard because they were underground, and there was no immediate outside access. Going back the way she came seemed like a bad idea, but it was unknown to her if there even was another way out.

But she hadn't seen Red Robin on her way it, so maybe there was.

"Do you have a plan on getting us out?" she asked, flipping over several assassins and kicking them down before they could turn.

"I came in through the sewer, that's probably our best bet." 

Ghost let out a huff. "Better than my way, I used the front door." she laughed and sliced through their legs, making more fall to the floor. They were quickly getting overwhelmed, there was no way they were going to make it much longer before the big guns came in. If Malcolm Merlyn was here, that could mean that there were several other high ranking members in this secret base.

Red Robin looked to his left, he never believed that Ghost was a myth. There was too much evidence that she was real for him to believe it, and he had been trying to track her own for months after Batman had a run in wither along with Robin. 

They told him and the others how she was very skilled and had shown high levels of training. Their first theory had been that she was part of the League of Assassins, doing all of their dirty work but it became more apparent that she had nothing to do with the league.

For the last year, several members and their contacts around the world would show up dead with nothing to show as evidence that she was there. The only thing they had going for them were blurred-out pictures of a figure in white running around, and they never saw her face.

He had to admit, the red lenses were unnerving as they were the only part of her suit that wasn't white. The first picture he had seen was a blurred out picture, with the red lenses lit up in the dark. From the right perspective, she looked like a ghost.

Watching her fight was mesmerizing, it was like she floated on air as she jumped around and took out the assassins. Red Robin was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a dagger fly past his head and lodge itself in the throat of an assassin behind him. 

"We don't kill!" he said, hitting on in the stomach before flipping his staff around and hitting them in the chin.

"I'm not one of you bats from Gotham. Take your pick, his life or yours?" she snapped, shooting another that was behind her without taking her gaze off of him. Assassins didn't stop coming and they needed to get out quickly before they revealed who Ghost was to Red Robin. That was the last thing she wanted right now.

Looking up, she saw a beam that stretched across the room and towards a possible exit to the outside. "Hey, bird boy! Follow me if you want to stay alive!" she called and pulled out her grappling gun and launched herself upwards, perching on the beam. Red Robin pulled out his own and followed suit as Ghost ran across it with such agility, he was left in awe. 

There was a vent at the end that they both slipped into and quickly followed the path, hoping it would lead them out. Ghost kept quiet, a hand gripping her gun tightly just in case. It was too dangerous to use her swords in such a tight space, and it was her goal to get them both out alive.

She was getting too comfortable with her movements and she was starting to slip back into Ghost used to be the White Arrow. It had taken everything in her to not use the moves they had crafted together when they fought, seeing Red Robin again had brought back old feelings and memories she tried to keep buried deep and it was only getting harder and harder to keep it that way.

"So, do I get my question now?" he asked. 

"Are we out alive?" she snapped, not bothering to look back.

"No?" he asked.

"Then, no you don't. You will get your question when we are out of this hell hole. Until then, shut up." Ghost ordered as she kept walking. It seemed that Red Robin had taken the hint and quit talking, and that made it easier for her to listen around to make sure they weren't being followed. Going back was not an option, there was probably a group following behind them already so that left forward as their only option.

The vent was oddly quiet, almost too quiet and it set them on edge.

Red Robin was about to say something when harpoons shot through the vent, missing them by inches. 

"Move!" Ghost cried and picked up the pace. It was so quiet because the league knew where they were and was trying to stay undetected. Harpoon after harpoon shot through the vent, grazing her shin and his thigh. The two of them were lucky that those were the only injuries they got.

There was the sound of rushing water to their left, and so Ghost ran that way and saw that it was an exit to the sewer system below Venice that would give them the way out that they needed. "Come on, quickly!" she yelled and moved quickly as she kicked the grate out of the way.

Red Robin's eyes widened in surprise, not many people could just kick a metal grate clean off of the wall that didn't have superpowers, in fact, the only one he had seen do it was Batman and he made it look easy.

Ghost dropped down and looked around quickly, the guns at the ready. It seemed that they were the only ones there and they had lost the league for now. Letting out a sigh, she put her handguns back into her holsters and turned to look at the person who was with her.

Now that they were really alone, Ghost got a better look at him. The suit clung to his figure better and wore a domino mask now, that hid those blue eyes she adored so much. But other than that, there were no other major changes. 

"Do I get my question now?' he asked, putting his bo staff away.

Ghost dropped her head. "You get to ask one question, so you better make it count." 

Red Robin stood there quietly as he pondered what he was going to ask, there were a million things he wanted to know. Who she was under the mask, what her end goal was, who she worked for, and who had trained her. But he was only allowed one question so he went with the one that could give him the most answers.

"Alright, who are you? I know you're Ghost but who are you outside of that?" he asked.

She let out a huff. Of course, he would ask her that. Turning to look at him, her red lenses focused in on his face as they analyzed him. Even his mannerisms were the same, the way he crossed his arms, down to the way he took care of business as Red Robin. It was like she had walked into the past and it wasn't going to be very forgiving, but neither was she.

"I promised one free question." she grinned. "But I never said anything about an answer." Ghost took off deeper into the sewer as she searched for an exit. Red Robin was left in shock as he watched her disappear into the night and out of sight. 

He felt like an idiot, Ghost was within his reach, and yet she had run away and he didn't even try to stop her. After what Dick and Jason had told him, he expected her to be rougher around the edges than she was. Whoever she was, it was obvious that she wanted to keep it hidden.

Exiting the sewer, his com had gone off the second he got reception.

_"Hey, did you get what you needed?" Dick asked._

"Yes and no, it was a bit of a rough experience. I met a friend of yours though," he answered, grappling to the roofs above him.

_"Who? Wally? He's still in Central City."_

"It wasn't him, I ran into Ghost while I was in the hideout." Red Robin explained. "It seemed that she was at odds with the League as well. Maybe they aren't connected in the way we originally thought." he wondered aloud. 

Dick had gone unnaturally quiet, Red Robin had to check his connection to make sure that he didn't lose him mid-conversation.

_"Be careful Tim, she is dangerous no matter who she works with," Dick warned. "We still don't know what her motives are, but she is connected to the League somehow."_

Red Robin let out a sigh. "I know how dangerous she can be, trust me. I saw what she can do up close, Ghost is dangerous and I won't let my guard down around her ever."

What he didn't know was how much Dick wished that to be true. To his knowledge, he, Jason, and Roy were the only ones who knew the truth about her. There was no way he was going to tell Tim because he would only trail after her, abandoning the duties that he had in Gotham and Jump City.

When Rory left him, Tim was a wreck. Dick had never seen him so heartbroken, and would never have dreamed it to be Rory who did it. But hearing what she had said to Tim that night, he knew that Tim was in for a long road to get over. He had dropped himself into his work and never stopped, it was like Tim was trying to get Rory out of his head but he was haunted by the ghost she left behind. 

It was why they had called Kon to take him to Jump City to be with the Titans there. Tim needed to get out for a while as he got over Rory and the hole she had left in her wake. There was more to this whole situation, but he didn't know where to look or even where to start. 

Tim was right in thinking that she was connected to the League somehow, but they had all thought she was working for them and killing ex-members or people that had crossed them. It wasn't until they learned that she was after Tiger Shark that it had clicked. Rory was tracing different rings around the world, making her patterns loose and untraceable. It was a miracle that Tim even ended up in the same city as her.

Rory seemed to go out of her way to stay out of cities like Star City, Gotham, Bludhaven, and even Metropolis and several others where other Justice League members live. She was smart, and that was why they kept losing her trail. 

_"So when are you coming back?" he asked._

"I'll be on the first flight back to Gotham in the morning, I'm going to look around some more before I turn in." Red Robin responded. "Stay safe."

_"You too kid."_

Ghost watched, hidden in a back alley where she wouldn't be seen by Red Robin. He seemed to be doing great without her like she had wanted. Knowing Tim, he probably had another girlfriend. It killed her to think about the fact that it was someone else he was loving, but she knew it was for the best. Even after she ended all of this, there was no way she could go back. 

Even if they didn't get along, the Wayne boys cared deeply for the other. It wasn't shown in what they said, it was how they acted with each other. If she ever showed her face in Gotham again, there was no doubt in her mind that Dick would kick her ass. Rory was lucky he didn't do it when she saw him last, but Jason had come close only stopping when he saw that she was injured.

It was what she deserved, for all the wrong she had done in her life Rory did not deserve anyone as good as Tim. Slipping back into the shadows, she made her way back to her hotel room making sure she wasn't followed. She stayed away from the rooftops and any open walkways, not wanting to get found by Red Robin again. 

The walk was shorter than she thought it was going to be, but maybe that's because she was lost in her thoughts. Pulling out her gun, Rory aimed it at the balcony to her room and jumped in. Everything was in the same place she had left it before, except for her bag. The duffel bag that held her suit when she wasn't wearing it was no longer on the bed. It was on the dresser by the mirror and it was open.

Quickly, she grabbed a gun and looked around. Whoever had moved it could still be around, and she was ready to shoot them if they were.

To her left, there was a creak and quickly she turned to see Malcolm Merlyn step out of the shadows once again. He had something in his hands, as his fingers ran over the markings on it. Looking closer, she could see it was the box that held the things she wanted to keep safe. 

"Put that back where you found it, or you will lose your hands like a common thief," she growled, gripping her gun tighter. 

"You still care for all of them don't you?" he asked, running his thumb over the daisy carving on the top. "It's why you kept this along with the items inside. It's a reminder of the life you could have had, but don't." 

"Malcolm, I swear if you don't put that back I will hurt you." she snapped. 

He looked up at her. "So much emotion over a little box, but that's expected with what's inside it. I see you met the other intruder to the base tonight." he grinned

"You knew it was him the whole time, you wanted him to see me." she eyed his movements carefully. "Why?" she demanded.

"Why indeed, maybe I wanted to see if he would recognize you. Of course, the poor boy had no idea who you were. A remarkable job, by the way, if none of the batkids recognized you just by watching then you have surpassed every expectation I had of what you would eventually become." 

"Why are you here? I know it's not to compliment the skills you taught me, so talk." Rory took the mask off her face, blinking from the change.

"I know where your next target is," he said. 

"Pray tell, why should I listen to you about any of this?" she asked.

"Because your little stunt tonight did nothing to help you. Not only Cheshire is after you now, but Ra's has also enlisted several other members to hunt you down and bring you in," he explained, setting the box down.

"Let me guess, you are one of them?" she asked, grabbing the handle of her sword just in case. 

"Naturally, but of course I wanted to warn you to make the chase more fun. He's enlisted the likes of myself, Deathstroke, and Lady Shiva just to bring you in. You seem to be a very important asset he wants in his ranks Aurora, I suggest you make the right call." he said, walking to the window.

"You said that you knew the location of my next target, once you tell me why should I believe you?" Rory asked, watching him walk away. 

"Because that's the safest place you'll be when the League comes for you again," he answered. "The person you are looking for goes by the name of Samantha Wilkins, and she resides in Gotham City. If you don't make it there by the end of the week, you will be dead before you can ever reach her." 

And with that, he was gone like dust in the wind. 

Quickly Rory grabbed the box he had and checked it over to make sure all the contents were in it. She had no idea who this Samantha Wilkins was, but she seemed important enough that Malcolm told her where she lived and had even given a warning to who was coming for her.

She should have known Slade got out of prison, he worked for the League of Assassins after all. But he was right in saying that there was nowhere safer for her than Gotham City, with Batman and the others there to run interference in case she was caught. Their moral code was high enough that they would save her before the thought of letting her get taken or killed happened, no matter how much they didn't want to.

With a sigh, she changed into comfortable clothes and shoved her stuff into her suitcase. Rory had to leave Venice, and quick. If Malcolm was right and she didn't get to Gotham by the end of the week, she was a dead girl walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh so she's going back to Gotham, and Tim didn't recognize her. Poor baby, but things are going to be getting interesting.
> 
> I'm not saying better or worse, but interesting. Stay frosty (because literally, everything froze over here)


	7. Chapter Six

Rory sat in her safe house, looking around as she spun in her office chair slowly. Merlyn was right when he told her that Samantha Wilkins was in Gotham City, and he was also right about the fact that several assassins were coming for her. She had only been in Gotham for a little over a week and has managed to hide from the lower ranking ones so far, but it was unknown how long she was going to be able to stay this way.

Doing the research, Samantha Wilkins was a politician that was based in the city. Not only did she have ties to the League of Assassins, but she was close with other crooked politicians as well. On the outside, this woman was a sweet-hearted person who cared deeply for the people of the city. But behind closed doors, she was a cold-blooded killer who took joy in sucking the life and money out of Gotham. With her connections to some of the oldest assassins in history, Samantha Wilkins was not someone Rory should take lightly.

She had barely gotten out of the secret base in Venice in one piece, but Rory knew for a fact that she would not live to tell the tale if she confronted Samantha on her own. With a groan, she stopped spinning and dropped her head. This would have been a perfect assignment for Aurora Queen, the socialite princess of Star City, and a good friend of Tim Drake the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. 

It was funny how life seemed to bite her in the ass most days. She left town to keep Tim and the others safe, only for them to be thrown into her life again against her will. The past never seemed to stay where it belonged, and it was starting to piss her off.

If she still had her connections with Bruce and the others, things would be a little easier. Have them do the daytime work while she stalked them through the night. But things never went to plan.

Merlyn had said that it wasn't just him coming for her, but Lady Shiva and Deathstroke and Cheshire. Rory clenched her fists as her last encounter with Slade ran through her head, it was the day that he murdered Jesse, She herself had almost killed Slade in her rage, but she was stopped by Jason before she could. 

With a sigh, Rory looked at her phone. She needed help with this, but her list of friends had dwindled fast. At this point, she doubted that even Roy would come and help her out. Helena might be in town, but again she would probably try to shoot Rory for leaving in the first place. In a city packed full of people, Rory had never truly felt more alone than she did at this point.

She had to do something, even if it was following Samantha around for the fifth night in a row. There had to be something shady going on that she was missing, and every time Samantha got close to her place Rory was always derailed by assassins that were trying to kill her. 

Pushing herself up from the chair, Rory walked over to the closet that held her suit. It hung there with the mask set aside on a shelf, the red lenses staring at her. If things didn't go well tonight, then she would try a different approach and even maybe call Batman for his assistance.

The sun was setting outside and she was ready, Rory slipped into her suit and placed the mask on her face once more. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her weapons and took off into the night. The warm night air greeted her like an old friend, she had truly missed Gotham while she was away and it sent the feeling of home through her. 

Her main goal was to not get caught at all, and make sure that she didn't lose Samantha as she left city hall. Jumping through the city quickly, Ghost had made it there in record time and had managed to catch Samantha as she was leaving the office and walked down the street. it made sense that one of the most powerful women in Gotham had dark ties. Almost everyone that lived in this damn city did, except for a few but even then they had a dark past.

Ghost ducked down, not wanting to be seen as her eyes followed the figure through the streets. It seemed to be the same path every time, but it was coming to the part that she would end up losing her. But this time, Ghost was prepared.

Like the last time, assassins surrounded her and held up their swords. "Aurora Queen, you have been summoned by the Demon. Come willingly or die." one of them spoke, the same message she had heard every night. 

"You guys still haven't picked up on it have you?" she said, pulling out her swords. "The Demon can go fuck himself and rot in hell for all I care." 

They attacked in unison, Ghost rolling away at just the right moment that they didn't hit her. Getting to her feet, she kicked on in the back as he landed on top of two of the others, leaving four more free to apprehend her. 

One of the assassins, a woman was smaller and went at Ghost with her sword bared and they began to duel on the rooftops, trying to cut the skin of the other to try and slow them down. This assassin was fast, but so was Ghost and she wasn't going down without a fight. 

Ghost jumped and flipped over her and two others, slicing the closest one across the back, and watched as he fell to the floor unable to move. The other six took this as a challenge and ramped up their fighting even more. Even with her swords and her level of skill, Ghost was getting overwhelmed and she was losing. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Ghost saw something fly towards them and hit the roof. Looking down, her eyes widened as she jumped and rolled away from the Batarang that exploded, sending the assassins flying in different directions. 

Before she could get to her feet, Ghost saw two pairs of feet stop in front of her. Tightening the grip on her swords, she slowly looked up to see the frowns of Batman and Robin in front of her. Batman had his arms crossed and he looked angry, angrier than she had ever seen him. Was it possible that Bruce Wayne knew who she was?

Looking at Robin, she saw that he was even bigger than the last time she saw him. Damian was more built and had the height of his father in him. He still had a couple of years left of growing, but it seemed that he was going to pass his father. 

Letting out a short laugh, Ghost rolled away from the two of them as the assassins came for her again. She wanted to put distance between her and them so she ran to the opposite end where three of the seven followed her. These were the kind of odds Ghost preferred, a challenge but not so hard that she was struggling.

She had managed to knock one out completely and threw another off the roof by the time she had seen Samantha's black hair in the distance. She was still in the area and it seemed that she was getting into a car. Deep down she knew it was not cool to just up and leave in the middle of a fight, but Ghost had places she needed to be. This was something she couldn't risk losing again. 

After she took down the final assassin, she looked over to Batman and Robin before giving them a salute. "See you later Bats!" she called and jumped off the roof and took off. Ghost pulled out her grapple gun and swung down the street as she followed the car, making sure that she stayed close enough but not so close she would get noticed.

The sounds of the city drowned out everything, including the sounds of someone following her. Ghost was about to swing to another building when she was tackled to the ground by a blur of red and green. Rolling to the side she saw that Robin had followed her, and that meant that Batman was right behind.

"Stay out of my way kid, and you won't get hurt." she threatened. It was times like these where she was glad that her mask modified her voice, making it sound deeper and more robotic. There was no way she was going to be able to follow Samantha with Batman and Robin on her tail. She needed to get out and fast.

"You're an assassin, how do I know that you don't work for the League?" he asked, pulling out his own sword.

"Considering seven of them tried to take off my head? I thought Batman taught you better than that." she grinned, standing fully as her eyes never left the other figure. 

"Maybe it was all a ruse." 

"Or maybe, they are trying to kill me because I have been a real pain in their ass. Very similar to what I did to Red Hood a while back, only it was in the leg." 

"Either way, you're a criminal and you need to be brought in," he said and charged at her with his sword raised. Ghost dove to the side and blocked his attacks with her own swords. Robin was the last person she wanted to hurt, the others were all adults and he was still a kid to her. A kid she had helped train and it seemed that he took it to heart. 

In every attack Robin made, there were traces of the people who had trained him. His mother, Bruce, Dick, and even herself. It was in the way he fought and used his agility. Ghost had a different skillset than Dick and so she helped Robin learn how to move like her. He was even more dangerous because of it. Robin went to attack her once more, but Ghost jumped up and flipped over him to avoid getting hit.

While they fought, Batman had arrived and dove into the fight with Ghost letting out a huff. "And here I was thinking that I could get some actual work done," she muttered and rolled between them and took off. She went to jump off, but a rope had wrapped itself around her and pulled her to the ground. 

Her two swords were still on her back and she watched as Batman and Robin approached her with cautious looks. It didn't matter how much she had tried to wiggle out of it, the rope only got tighter as Robin pulled it and stood over it with a smug look on his face.

"Looks like we caught a ghost." 

She rolled her eyes. "Now you sound like Nightwing. He said the same thing." her eyes went to Batman who only glared. "What are you going to do to me? Send me to jail?" she asked. 

"Robin, sedate her." 

Ghost's eyes went wide, that wasn't the usual protocol with bad guys. She watched as Robin pulled out a syringe and stabbed it into her neck, the cold liquid filling her body. The effects were almost immediate as she tried to fight them off. Her eyes were getting droopy and her limbs felt heavy.

Everything started to go fuzzy and she leaned her head back against the concrete roof, watching as Batman picked her up over his shoulder and everything went dark.

Robin followed Batman as he called the Batmobile to pick them up at their location. He watched his father with curious eyes, was Ghost not a criminal and needed to be turned over to the authorities? Why was he not informing the commissioner of this?

Batman jumped down off the roof and set Ghost in the car, in the backseat still tied up with the rope. Robin and himself both climbed in as he drove off for the Batcave. The entire ride back was quiet, Damian had questions running through his mind about what they were doing with Ghost. 

When they pulled in, Dick was waiting for them and Damian did not miss the way he looked at Ghost when Bruce pulled her out of the Batmobile. There was something more going on that he didn't know, and he intended to find out. 

"Damian, go ahead and turn in for the night," Bruce said, carrying Ghost over to one of the holding cells that he had set up for special cases. 

"Father, why did we bring her here to the cave?" he asked crossing his arms. "Is she not a killer who should be locked up?"

"There is more to this, and you will know when the time is right. Now, got get some rest." Bruce replied, locking the glass door.

Damian let out a huff and walked up the stairs to the Manor, leaving Dick and Bruce there alone.

"You know, when he does the whole arm-crossing thing he looks just like you?" Dick asked, looking at the unconscious figure in the holding cell. "But he has a point, why did you bring her here?"

"You know very well why." 

"I'm guessing you know then? When did you figure it out?" Dick asked, there had been a question lingering in the back of his mind about whether or not Bruce knew if Rory was Ghost. This was finally going to answer that question."

"I had always had my suspicion, but it was confirmed when I watched her fight Damian earlier tonight. The way she flipped over him, not many people have that type of flexibility or skill. She has done a good job at hiding, but not from me." Bruce explained.

"Does Damian know?"

Bruce shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. But I wouldn't put it past him to figure it out, who else knows?" 

"Just, Jay, Roy, and I. For now at least, but we need to tell the others. It'll be worse if they find out, and learn that we knew as well." Dick said, looking at him. 

"We can't take the choice from her, she should be the one to tell them. No matter how much it hurts." Bruce explained. "We still need to keep an eye on her, and maybe figure out what it is that she's been doing." 

Dick nodded. "Alright, I'm heading upstairs. Don't stay up too late old man," he called as he walked up the stairs.

Bruce stood there and watched Rory for a few more minutes, he should have seen this coming. When Rory left, the way she left, it was all signs pointing to this. She left for a reason, the behavior she had before she took off was odd, to say the least. Always checking over her shoulder, parting with the things she loved most, and that included Tim. 

She was tangled up with the League of Assassins, but it was still unknown why. Originally, they had all thought that Ghost was a new member who did their dirty work but when she killed that guy in New York their perception changed. 

She wasn't killing for the League, she was taking them down piece by piece. With the new knowledge that it was Rory under the mask, more options had arisen. Slade had broken out of prison a couple of months ago, and Bruce knew that he would be out for blood. Rory's blood to be exact and wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted.

There were many questions in regards to Rory and the last year she was missing, and Bruce was determined to answer them all. Maybe, just maybe he could save her from the only thing that could stop her; herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So she got caught and Bruce knows, but let's be real he is Batman. The next chapter is going to be fun, once I actually write it that is. Not gonna lie, I have had a hard time with where exactly I am going next with this book but I have an idea and I am going to run with it and see what happens!


	8. Chapter Seven

Rory opened her eyes with a groan, the sedative that Bruce had given her was brutal. It made her body weak and her head hurt. Slowly she sat up and saw that she was in one of the cells they kept in the cave for times they needed to hold someone like her there. 

There was a shuffle outside her cell and she looked through the glass panel to see someone she did not recognize. 

He was sat in a chair playing a game on his phone while he tapped his foot. From the first observation, she could tell that he was older than Damian but not much younger than her. 

She narrowed her eyes. "Did Bruce take in another stray?"

The person in front of her jumped and looked at her. "Oh, hey you're awake. Bruce wanted someone down here to keep an eye on you and they are all out right now, so I took the job," he explained. 

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Only about twenty-four hours, he gave you a big dose. Said something about you being dangerous or something." he shrugged and looked back at his game. 

"I'm locked in one of these cells, pretty sure that means I'm dangerous to Batman's standards." she snapped.

"Well, dangerous or not I doubt you can get out of this cell," he said, leaning back in his chair.

Rory looked him over. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad. "I like you, what's your name?" she asked.

"Duke, Duke Thomas. You?" he asked.

"Ghost." 

"So when you were born, your parents named you Ghost?" he grinned, looking at her again with a smile on his face. 

"Yup. It's how all of us assassins are born. Fully grown and equipped with weapons ready to kick ass." she chuckled.

Duke laughed at her comment. "At least you laugh like a human, there was a theory that you were from another planet." 

Rory bit her lip to try and keep herself from laughing. Even though she had her mask on still, Duke could see what she was laughing. "Another popular theory is that you are from the future, that's how you kept slipping away." 

Rory leaned forward. "I am not an alien, nor am I from the future. Who even came up with those?" 

"Jason and Steph," he replied. "But of course, after he met you Jason changed his mind. He's actually been really grumpy since then." 

"Well, that's because I shot him in the leg." she chuckled.

Duke laughed at her statement, he couldn't see why the rest of them were on edge around her. So far she made no moves to escape and was holding a pleasant conversation, but then again he was on the opposite side of the glass door. Who knew what Ghost would try to do to him if he pissed her off.

Rory was about to open her mouth to speak once more when a bike pulled into the cave. She held her breath, this was what she was not looking forward to. Dick took off his mask and looked over, his expression neutral upon looking at her.

Yeah, he was still upset with her. What did she expect, that he and Jason were going to forgive her? Rory had a feeling that Roy would forgive her, but she had crossed lines and things weren't going to be the same between them. 

"I see you're finally up. Batman has questions to ask you." Dick said.

"You could at least look a little happy to see me, Richard." 

"Let's go back to last year and sure, I'd be happy to see you. Ro- Ghost, you've murdered people across the globe. That doesn't just go away." he said.

"Oh, but it goes away for Jason when he slips up or just flat out ignores Bruce's rule. You still accept him." she snapped.

Duke sat in his chair quietly, watching the two of them fight. He might have only been around for six months, but he had never seen Dick snap like that at someone; ever. Not unless they did something to hurt his family. Looking at the girl in the cell once more, the pieces started to click. 

Dick knew her, and he knew her well. But what was it she did to make him so upset at her?

Dick clenched his jaw, there were many things he wanted to say to her. Most of them consisted of yelling at her for what she did to Tim, dumping him, and then dropping off the face of the earth. It was something he wasn't ready to forgive her for, and from where he was standing it didn't seem like she regretted it at all. 

Rory glared, he might not be able to see her face but it was obvious how she felt. Her body was as stiff as a board and her hands were clenched tightly on the edge of the cot she was sitting on. 

Neither of them spoke, only glared at the other leaving a very confused Duke in the middle. Several minutes had passed before he went to open his mouth. "Is anyone hungry? Because I am starving," he asked. 

"I would love something to eat, I've been locked in a cell for twenty-four hours. At this point, I would eat anything," Rory said, her gaze not leaving Dick.

Duke quickly got up from his seat and went up to get some food, once he was gone was when Rory spoke again.

"Why don't you tell me what this is really about Grayson? I'm sure there are many things you want to say to me, and nows your chance." she taunted.

"You don't want to know what I have to say, it's not very nice," he said.

"Oh, afraid that you'll make me cry?"

"No, afraid it'll make you change your mind and want to stay." 

Rory raised a brow at him. "Why would I want to stay in the hell hole of a city?" she asked.

"The same reason you did the last time, but I am not going to let you hurt my brother again. Not if I have anything to say about it." 

There it was. Dick was worried that she had come back for Tim, or at least try to talk to him. Little did he know that that was the last thing she wanted to do. Seeing him in Venice was hard enough, and he was distracted. Rory came to Gotham for one reason, and one reason only. She was going to find Samantha Wilkins and stop her.

"That's not the reason I'm here." 

"Then what is?" 

The two of them looked behind Dick and saw Bruce walk in, the cape swaying behind him. Damian was off to the side with his arms crossed, looking over at them. 

"I was wondering when you would get back Bruce, _Dick_ over here has been keeping me company. Along with that new kid, Duke. He seems smart, resourceful." she commented, getting to her feet.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his tone stiff and firm. It was clear that he was not going to let up on any of this until he got the answer he wanted.

"Relax Brucie, I'm not here for the reason you think I am. I won't go anywhere near him, I don't want to." she clarified.

Damian's eyes narrowed from across the cave. This situation with Ghost was getting weirder and weirder; she knew their identities and Grayson and his father both seemed to be at least kind of comfortable around her. It was like they knew she wouldn't seriously hurt them, but didn't want to push it anymore than they had.

"Then tell me, why are you here Ghost," Bruce questioned, narrowing his eyes at the girl in front of him.

"That's my business, next question." 

"Why were you in Venice?" Dick tried.

"Again, I had no idea he was there." Rory huffed as she began to pace in front of the glass door. 

"Why were you in Venice?" Bruce snapped. "There was a League base there, and you were seen inside it. Why were you there?" 

Rory stopped pacing and stared at him from where she stood. "Do you really think you can intimidate me?" she laughed. Bruce really thought that he could scare her into talking, but Rory was smarter than that. From all the things she had seen in her life, Batman was not at the top of her list. Hell, Deathstroke no longer scared her anymore. Not after he was locked in Belle Rev Prison and she had almost killed him, it was almost poetic how she had quite literally conquered her fear that night.

The thing Rory feared the most, she couldn't get away from.

"I'm beginning to understand why you locked me in here, and it wasn't for your safety." she grinned. "I was for mine, to make sure none of them or you would try and beat me up for what I did is that right?"

Bruce's glare darkened, she was as smart as he remembered if not smarter. The Rory they all knew a year ago was long gone, she was a completely different person now. It was like she enjoyed seeing the pain on their faces, knowing it was her that had caused it. 

"Come on, why don't you let me out? I've learned a few tricks, let's see how long it takes me to kick your ass." 

"Why the fuck is she here!?" Jason took off his helmet and stormed over, his face contorted in anger. Rory was the last person he wanted to see, especially in the cave. He had been out of town for the last few days and didn't know that she was in Gotham, but when he saw her white suit from across the cave he got pissed.

"Jason, don't," Dick said, moving to stop his brother.

"Did you forget what she did, what she said to him? Or the fact that she shot me? Does any of this ring a bell in that bird brain of yours?" he asked, knocking Dick on the head with his knuckles.

"No none of us forgot, but this isn't the time for grudges. There's a reason she is here, and the quicker we find that out, the quicker she can leave the city." Dick said, trying his hardest to hold Jason back. He was physically bigger than him and could easily throw Dick over his shoulder if he wanted to.

Damian listened to the whole conversation, looking up when Duke came back with two plates and a sandwich on each. Duke decided it was not a good idea to get tangled up in all of that and thought it was a good idea to wait by Damian. He set the sandwich that Alfred made for Ghost down and began to eat his own, watching as Bruce, Dick, and Jason tried to get answers out of her.

"Do you know who she is?" he asked, leaning over towards Damian.

"I have my suspicions, but I want to wait before I voice it. If I'm right, she's an old friend." Damian said, closing his eyes and dropped his head. "But this one time, I don't want to be right."

"Who you think she must be, was pretty important to all of you then?" Duke asked, taking a bit of his sandwich. 

Damian gave him another nod. "Yes, but to no one more than Drake. She was his beloved, and about a year ago now she broke his heart and left. None of us has seen her since." 

"What if you're right, will you tell Tim at all?" 

Again, Damian shook his head. "It's better he doesn't know what became of her." 

"Not to be that guy, but that sounds kind of fucked up. Shouldn't he be the first to know, considering that they were a thing as you said?" Duke asked, his brows raised in confusion.

"You didn't see what had happened after she left. Father brought you in several months later, Thomas. The Manor wasn't the same and we all felt it." 

"So why do you think she came back then?" 

"An excellent question, but I think I can find the answer." Damian pushed off the wall he was leaning on and walked over to the bat computer and began to type things into it, trying to find what it was Ghost was following that night. 

Before she had said that she had business to attend to and that they needed to stay out of her way. What he wanted to know, was what exactly it was that she was doing. Whether Ghost was Rory or not, that didn't change the facts that were laid out in front of them. 

She was going around, killing members of the League of Assassins. The ones with links to drug trades, trafficking, and other shipments across the world. Damian had already informed them all of this connection, but things got a little weird when she went to Venice, Italy. Up until that point, she had been hunting ring leaders and not attacking bases.

Drake had gone there to try and get some information, hoping that Ra's was in a good mood and willing to cooperate. He wasn't of course, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that she was there for another reason, but why?

Scanning the footage, the voices of his father and two brothers were drowned out as Duke stood there and watched. Damian's eyes didn't leave the screen, let alone blink afraid that he might miss something if he did. There had to be something that gave her away, there had to be. Watching the footage as he followed her, was when he saw a car. It had been in every shot of his footage and Ghost was going in the same direction. 

Tracing the license plate, he found who the car belonged to and tracked the name down. Printing the paper, he grinned to himself and walked over with it held tightly in his hand. Pushing past Jason and Dick, he pressed the picture to the glass.

"Who is Samantha Wilkins and why are you following her?" he asked.

"Where's my food? Duke said he was going to get me something to eat," she answered, looking him dead in the eye.

"You'll get it once you answer the question. Who is Samantha Wilkins and why are you following her?" he asked once more.

"Listen here kid, bring me my food and I might talk. I haven't eaten in over twenty-four hours and I am starting to get a little pissed." she crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one leg with a triumphant look to her stance.

Dick turned to look at Duke and waved him over. "Bring the assassin her sandwich," he called.

"One sandwich for the scary-ass assassin coming up," Duke said and slid it through the flap in the door. 

Rory's mouth salivated at the sight of the food in front of her, she went to pick it up when she stopped mid grab. The mask she wore covered her entire face, there was no way she was going to eat and keep it on. 

Slowly, she looked to the side and glanced at the people who stood in front of her. Most of them already knew who she was, and if Damian hadn't figured it out yet then he wasn't paying much attention.

"I know who you are Sonnet, just take the damn mask off and eat the sandwich." Damian snapped, crossing his arms and glaring at her.

Rory let out a sigh and unclasped the mask from her face, her vision going from the red of the lenses to the natural coloring of the real world. Her hair was a mess of tangles and loose strands hung in front of her face, as she tried to blow them away. 

She looked worse for wear than the last time Dick and Jason saw her. The bags that hung under her eyes were more prominent and, there was no life to her face. Her cheeks were sullen and her lips seemed to be in a permanent frown. This new life she led was kicking her ass and slowly killing her, but Rory wasn't going to stop until the job was done.

Setting the mask to the side, Rory sat on the cot and ate her sandwich. They were all watching her, she could feel their gazes without looking up. After taking a few bites, she let out a sigh. "Samantha Wilkins is my next target," she answered.

"So you're here to kill her?" Dick asked.

Slowly, Rory nodded her head refusing to look up. "Yes, but there is more to it than that. She is more than what she seems, Samantha has ties to the League of Assassins and is not a very nice person." she took another bite. "I have no idea how dangerous she really is, but a person with those kinds of connections is not good."

"So you've been trying to take down the League of Assassins then?" Jason questioned.

Rory stayed quiet, that was only partially true. Yes, that was what she was doing, but it wasn't why she was doing it. It was why she left Gotham in the first place, and it was ironic that it was the reason she came back almost a year later.

"You're not going to answer that one?" he asked.

"You won't like my answer, and the fewer people know the better," she said shortly.

"That's bullshit, you just don't want to tell us." he snapped.

She took a deep breath before finishing her sandwich. "I told you before, there's more to this than either of you know. I can't explain because it would only put a target on your back."

Bruce stood there silently, going over the evidence in his head. Rory was smart, smart enough to avoid them all for a year. If she said that there was more to this than they knew, and it was safer that way. It had to do with the League, but she was the one who started hunting down the League members first.

Or, were they the ones hunting her?

That group of assassins from the night before seemed adamant to take her out, but why?

The sound of two more bikes pulling in snapped them all out of their trance. Every single of them turned to look at Tim pull in with Stephanie behind him and they were laughing about something that had happened.

Hearing his laughter, Rory dove for her mask only knocking it to the floor with a loud clatter. Tim stopped laughing and looked up at the cell, dropping the items he held in his hands. 

Everything about her was different, from the color of her hair to the color of her eyes but he would know that look from anywhere. She always had that look about her, she wasn't looking at you or through you even. Her gaze was locked inside you, taking in every bit of information she could as she listened. Looking at her now, how could he have not noticed who she was before? 

He had spent the better part of almost three years with her, to the point Tim had her body memorized in his mind's eyes. It was either the time away, or the pain she had left him in that pushed those memories away not wanting to make the connection to protect his heart from her.

Stephanie was frozen in place as she stared at the girl behind the glass and then looked back at Tim who wore the same shocked expression she did.

Tim swallowed and opened his mouth. "Songbird?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooooo he knows. Our boi Tim knows now, but how will he react to the news? 
> 
> But we saw Duke! I've been looking into this character more, and I am slowly growing attached to him more and more. But Rory is hiding a lot from them, will she ever spill the beans? Who knows, I don't yet. I am kind of planning as I go here.


	9. Chapter Eight

Tim stared at Rory as she stood behind the glass, his mind going a million miles a minute. She was back, back in Gotham but everything about her screamed danger. She wasn't the same, he could tell just by the neutral look on her face. Not a trace of emotion anywhere, not even shock at seeing him again. But again, Rory had seen him before, hadn't she?

He should have known, how did something like this slip past him? Rory was Ghost, and it seemed that almost everyone but him knew. Tim was at a loss for words, what more could he say? She had ripped his heart out when she left, and he could feel it breaking again just at the sight of her.

Rory stood there silently, not breaking her gaze with Tim. This was the last thing she wanted, it was bad enough his last memory of her was when she left, but now it was totally different. All those memories of her fighting the good fight, to protect those who couldn't protect themselves were all gone. She could see it in his eyes as he pieced everything together. 

She was an assassin, one who didn't play by their rules anymore. Rory played by her own set of rules now, and it was a dangerous game she was playing. 

Hearing him say the old nickname he had for her, listening to the heartbreak in it Rory bit her tongue to keep herself from breaking. She knew that he would break down every wall that she built up in a matter of seconds if he spoke the right words and hearing him call her Songbird almost did. 

She clenched her fist and swallowed hard, fighting the urge to tell him how she really felt. 

"I'm not your Songbird, Timothy."

Just her voice alone, made his heart lurch. God, he missed her so much, but it was clear that she did not miss him at all. Honestly, why would she? Some of the last words he heard her say to him rang in his ears, the chilling tone of her voice made him shiver.

_"I can't say that I love you when I don't."_

His eyes shifted from Dick to Jason, down to Damian and Duke, and then over to Bruce. All of them refused to meet his eyes, except for Damian and Duke, they must not have known before tonight. But the other three did, and they kept it from him.

"I can see that, you're nothing more than the ghost of who you used to be." His voice had come out harsher than he intended, but seeing her again brought back all these feelings he had been trying to suppress during the last year. Tim had thought he finally had gotten over Aurora Queen, but seeing her again only proved him wrong.

He refused to speak to the others, removing his cape and going up the stairs without another word leaving the others in the cave with his final words ringing in the air.

Stephanie stood at his side the whole time and felt his body tense when Rory spoke, but it wasn't only Tim she hurt leaving. Rory had hurt them all, none of them ever thought that she would be that cruel. Everyone knew that Rory had a dark side to her, one that enjoyed hurting others a little too much but they never thought she would do it to Tim. 

Slowly, she walked over and stood between Bruce and Duke. She stayed silent the whole time as she opened the glass door. Bruce and Dick gave Stephanie a questioning look, watching as she stepped inside the cell. Whatever it was they thought Steph was going to do, it wasn't anything close to what she did.

She reeled her fist back and punched Rory hard in the face, hard enough that it had sent her to the floor as Rory held her nose.

Stephanie stood above Rory, her chest heaving in anger as she glared down at the person she considered a sister. "That was for Tim." then she stepped out and took off into the manor, leaving Rory on the ground gripping her nose that was spurting blood.

No one spoke, Stephanie had shown what they all were feeling and felt that nothing else needed to be said. One by one, they all walked away. Damian was the first to leave with Duke at his side, a hand on his back as he tried to comfort his brother. 

Dick shook his head and left next, refusing to look at Rory anymore. That left Bruce and Jason who just stared down at her, their expressions matching not just what they felt but each other. It was moments like these when Rory could see traces of Bruce in Jason, it was normal when he was hurt or upset. Jason put on a front to keep everyone out, and Bruce was guilty of the same as well.

"I taught you better than this Rory, I'm sorry." was all Bruce said before he too walked away, leaving just her and Jason. 

He stood there silently and watched as she got up from the floor and held her nose tightly trying to stop the blood. They were the only ones left in the cave now, and that was when he spoke.

"I want you out of Gotham," he said.

She turned to look at him. "I'll leave once the job is done, Jason. You have my word." 

"Your word means jack-shit to me anymore, I'll help you out with the job so you can leave faster. Tim doesn't need you hanging over him like the dark omen you've become, so the second this is done you leave and you don't come back." his tone was even, almost too even. Jason was trying to mask his anger, but in doing so only made it sound worse. Rory almost preferred him to yell at her, show some form of emotion instead of just standing there like a statue.

"I promise, once I leave Gotham City I will not come back," she said softly, but firmly.

Jason glared at her but nodded before he walked away, leaving her the only one in the cave. The second Rory knew she was alone was the moment she let it all out. A heartbroken cry left her lips as she collapsed to the floor, her hand covering her mouth to muffle the sobs. This was what she wanted, Rory wanted to push them all away. 

But if this was what she wanted, why did it hurt so much?

Rory curled into the corner of her cell and cried, she cried until she couldn't cry anymore. She had finally run out of tears to shed, and it was all because she was just trying to keep them safe. Once Samantha Wilkins was dead, Rory would leave Gotham and never return.

Tim stormed up the steps to his room, ignoring the confused looks of Alfred and Cassandra as he passed them, trying to hide the tears that tried so hard to fall from his eyes. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him and was struggling to find the oxygen to breathe once more. 

Once he was safe in his room, Tim slammed the door and locked it not wanting anyone to follow him in. He couldn't let them see him like this, so weak just from seeing his ex-girlfriend for the first time in a year. 

The memory of the night she left wouldn't leave, no matter how hard he tried to forget those simple words were forever ingrained into his mind. 

_"I can't say that I love you when I don't."_

Tim dropped to his knees, covering his ears trying to rid himself of the voice that haunted his dreams. It only seemed ironic that the name Rory went by these days was what she had become to him and the others. She might not have died, but the ghost of who she used to be, still haunted the walls of Wayne Manor. 

_Rory walked into their apartment quietly, the jingle of her keys the only thing that could be heard from the silent room. She had to do this, there was no other choice. Tim was the one thing in her life that she ever felt that she did right, but that if hurting him was the only way to keep him safe then so be it._

_"Briar Rose? Is that you?" Tim's voice sounded from across the apartment._

_Her heart caught in her throat, clenching her fist as she bit her tongue. What was she going to say to him? Timothy Drake was one of the most persistent people she knew and this was not something he was going to drop any time soon._

_When she didn't answer, Tim walked out of their room his shirt unbuttoned as if he was in the middle of changing; probably to go on patrol with her and his family later that night. It didn't take a genius to see that there was something wrong._

_There she was, standing by the front door stiff as a statue. Quickly, Tim ran over and cupped her face. "Rory? Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked quickly._

_"I can't do this anymore Tim," she said softly, trying to keep her voice from cracking._

_"Do what? Rory, what happened?" he asked, pulling her closer to him only for Rory to pull out of his hold and take a step back._

_His eyes didn't leave her figure, confusion written all over his face. Whatever was on her mind, it had to have been bad for her to not want to be touched by him. "Did someone hurt you?" he asked._

_She shook her head. "I can't keep pretending Tim."_

_"Pretending what?" he asked, his heart dropping to his stomach._

_"I can't keep pretending that this, what we have, is going to work."_

_Her words cut him to the core as he tried to keep his jaw from dropping. Slowly, he reached out a hand to try and take hers only for her to jerk it away. Now he was more confused than ever, just this morning she had told him how much she loved him as he went to work. Now here she was saying that it wasn't going to work anymore?_

_Seeing the hurt expression on his face only broke her heart further. Rory had to do this, for him and the others as well._

_"Was... Was it something I did? Rory, please tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it." he pleaded._

_The desperation in his voice made her want to break down into tears, Rory could practically hear his heart shattering with her words. "It's nothing you did, it's something I did."_

_In the blink of an eye, all of Tim's walls crumbled. Had she cheated on him, slept with someone else because she wasn't happy with him? He was almost too afraid to ask, knowing that if it was her answer there was no going back._

_"What did you do?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper._

_"I..." she muttered. What was she going to say, judging by the look on his face it was obvious what he thought she had done. Should she confirm that fear of his, or just play with her own to save him from minimal damage?_

_"Songbird," his voice cracked at the pet name he had for her their entire lives. "Whatever you did, you can tell me. We can move past it, I made a promise to you and I am going to stand by that promise."_

_"I can't keep lying and pretending that what I feel isn't there," she answered._

_Tim watched her, his eyes trying to meet hers but she refused to meet his gaze. "What are you talking about?" he asked, stepping towards her once more only for her to back away from him. "Rory, I love you. I love you more than anything in this world and you're starting to scare me, what is going on?"_

_"I can't say that I love you when I don't." she turned away from him. "Not anymore."_

_He froze in his spot, his hand about to reach for hers when he stopped hearing her words. Rory didn't love him anymore? That was ridiculous, he knew she loved him. This had to be a trick, she was being forced to say these things to him that had to be it._

_"Before you even ask, no. No one is making me do this, it's not fair to lie to you and string you along like some puppet." she snapped, keeping her back to him. "I'm telling you this so you finally know the truth; I never loved you, Timothy. I just needed something to waste my time while I've been here in Gotham."_

_"With Ivy and Harley both behind bars and Deathstroke in Belle Rev, I have no reason to stay here." she was just twisting the knife deeper into his heart, and it killed her. Rory didn't want to see the pain on his face, to watch his world shatter around him as she said that the last two and a half years of their lives were all a lie._

_"You were just someone to fuck while I was here, I only said what you wanted to hear so you wouldn't pick up on it." With those final words, Rory opened the door and slammed it behind her without looking back._

His fist hit the desk, making everything on it jump. He had meant nothing to her, and there she was down in the cave rubbing it in his face. He had told Dick only part of what she said to him, the last words he heard her say were too painful to even repeat. Rory had ripped his heart out of him when she went through the door, only to find her White Arrow suit and bow on their bed a couple of days later.

He told her that she owned his heart, and she did. Aurora Queen was the love of his life, he knew it from the moment he first admitted that he loved her. But she threw it all down the drain, he had spent two and a half years loving her when she had never felt the same for him. 

What was he supposed to do, with Rory locked in the cave downstairs he never wanted to go back in again but he had to. It was part of his job as a hero, and that job entailed stopping his ex-girlfriend from killing people, no matter how corrupt they were.

Tim watched as the tears fell onto the desk he was staring at, and roughly wiped them away. No matter who she was, it was not going to stop him from doing his job. He stood straight and looked at the door, no doubt at least one person was waiting outside that door for him to open it and let them in but he wasn't.

He and Rory had unfinished business and was going to get the answers he deserved so he could finally leave her behind.

Walking over to the door, he roughly pulled it open and pushed past both Dick and Stephanie who were shocked to see him. 

"Where are you going Timberly?" Steph asked as she jogged to keep up with his pace. 

"I'm going to get answers." he snapped.

She and Dick shared a look before they both took off to try and keep up with him. "Tim, I don't think it's a good idea to go down there." he called, "Give it time before you try and talk to her, maybe less angry."

"So you're saying that I shouldn't be angry with her?" Tim asked, turning into the study.

Dick managed to catch him and hold him back by the collar of his suit. "No, you are allowed to be angry Tim! We are all angry at her, Steph literally just broke her nose! I don't want you going down there angry, only to do something you might regret." 

"I'm not going to hit her!" he snapped.

"No, but you happen to have a way with words when you are pissed. I don't want you to say something to her that you will regret. Just because she hurt you like that, it doesn't mean you should do it back. By that point, you are no better." 

Tim was seconds away from opening the passage before he gripped his fist tightly, and clenched his jaw. He knew Dick was right, of course, he was right. It came with the territory of being the oldest brother and it was no secret that he had his fair share of relationships. 

With a sigh, he removed his hand and took a step back. "It's just... Was I not good enough?"

Dick's face fell as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Tim, you were good enough. Everyone could see how much you loved her, she had us all fooled." 

Tim turned and looked at Dick, his eyes ringed red from holding back more tears. "She never loved me, Dick. She never loved me when I gave her everything." 

"I know kiddo." Dick pulled Tim into a hug as he finally quit fighting the tears and sobbed into his chest. "Trust me, I know." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just ripped out everyone's hearts, and I am sorry. This is not going to be a very happy book, at least for now. But you know what it was she said to him, and everyone had a right to be pissed at her for what she said, but it was necessary. 
> 
> Don't worry, this hurts me more than it hurt you guys. Trust me, that's why it took so long to write. I've felt that kind of pain when you don't feel good enough and it was hard to channel all of that into this the way I wanted it to.


	10. Chapter Nine

When Rory opened her eyes, she saw that she was still curled into the corner of her cell. She must have fallen asleep there, and no one bothered to move her. Not like she blamed them, they all hated her now. With a groan, she stood up and stretched out her back from being in a curled up position. 

Looking around, the cave really didn't change all that much. Dick's gymnast bars were still in place along with the boxing ring and a bunch of other items they would use on the daily. With a heavy sigh, she did notice that her archery station was tucked away. They really thought that she wasn't coming back, but that was what she wanted them to think. She left the way she did so they would come to hate her.

Rory eyes the punching bags across the room, she knew that she could break out of the cell if she really wanted to but it was probably not a good idea unless she wanted to give them reasons to trust her less. Maybe she could ask, and even be supervised while doing it to make them feel better.

There were footsteps coming down the stairs and she quickly straightened up, whoever was coming down those stairs was coming to see her or so something else and ignore her. To her surprise, it was Dick who showed his face, and he was carrying a plate of bacon and eggs. 

She gave him a confused look as she crossed her arms. "What are you doing Dick?" she asked.

"I may not be your biggest fan, but I can not on a good conscience let you starve. Scrambled, no cheese right?" he asked, as he slid the plate through the slot.

Rory nodded as she took the plate, "Thank you, Dick." she said and sat down, eating the food on her plate.

While she ate, Dick stood there and watched her. Things were not adding up, he knew that Rory could escape; she even said so herself. But if she could, why hadn't tried to run yet? Bruce had said that she was fighting members from the League of Assassins, and normally that means you are a target on their list but he was still missing the facts. 

He had always thought that the way her attitude did a complete turn around was weird as well, he had never seen two people more meant for each other than Rory and Tim. Dick could see that he made her want to be a good person, and she made him want to be the best version of himself he could be. Where one of them lacked, the other strived it was why they were such a good team together.

Rory could feel his eyes on her as she ate and it was unnerving, to say the least. Setting her fork down, she let out a sigh and looked up at him. "What do you want Dick?" she asked.

"I want you to tell me the truth, the full truth. No one just falls off the face of the earth to become an assassin for no reason, so why did you?" he asked. 

"I wasn't cut out for the hero gig, I'm better off alone. No one gets hurt that way." was all she said, before looking at her food and taking another bite. 

His eyes narrowed as he sat in the chair in front of the cell. "You and I both know that there was nothing more you loved than being on the Justice League, so what happened?" 

She turned away from him, Dick could see right through her lies as usual. Rory wanted to tell him the truth, she wanted to tell anyone who would listen but it wasn't safe. If Rory told them why she left, they would all be targets. But she knew that none of them were going to stop until they got an answer. 

"Dick, please. There is a reason for all of this, but I cannot tell you. All I can tell you is that this cell is probably the best place for me to be right now. Why else do you think I'm still here?" she asked.

His eyes narrowed in thought, she had a point. Rory was very capable of breaking out of the cell and he was surprised that she was still there. So what was she so scared of, that Rory was keeping herself locked up?

"When you say safest, you mean someone is after you again?"

Rory didn't speak, Dick was too smart and was picking up on things way too quickly. She didn't answer his question and just kept eating the food that was on her plate until it was gone as he sat there watching her. Once the food was finished, Rory sent the plate through the flap and gave Dick a small smile. 

"Tell Alfred I said thank you for the food, I doubt he's not my biggest fan these days either," she said softly.

Dick took the plate and set it to the side before he opened the door to the cell she was in. "Come on,"

Rory gave him a confused look as she stepped out of the cell, running her hand through her hair. "What are you planning Grayson?" she asked. 

"You've been stuck in here for almost forty-eight hours now. There is a stash of clothes and such in the bathroom. Go shower and meet me back here once you are done." 

Her eyes narrowed in confusion, what was he playing? Rory had a feeling that he knew she was not going to run, not after what she had just told him. But why was he being so nice to her, when literally the night before he acted as he hated her? Not wanting to push any more buttons, Rory took off for the showers with a stack of spare clothes. 

The shower was a welcomed change of scenery as she undressed and stepped into it, memories flashing through her mind of the times she had spent with Tim. Being back in Gotham was bringing back the memories and feelings she had fought so long to hide, knowing that if her enemies caught on at all they would use them against her. 

As the warm water ran over her skin, Rory could almost feel his hands on her as he held her close to himself and whispered sweet nothings in her ear like he used to. A shiver went down her spine, remembering how it felt to have his lips on her bare skin knowing that she would never feel it again.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Rory finished showering as fast as she could and got dressed. Stepping out, she heard multiple voices, both of them talking about her.

"You can't be serious, you let her out to go shower and not expect that she will run away?" Jason asked, knocking his fist on Dick's head only to be batted away.

"I let her out because I know she will not leave, don't you think it's odd that she has stayed this long? It was very clear that Tim is not the reason she came back to Gotham, so why is she here?" Dick countered. 

"To take out Samantha Wilkins, she said so last night." 

"Yes, but again why specifically her? Rory said it was safer she stayed in the cave and refused to answer if someone was after her. There's more to this, and more to why she left in the first place. I know there is, I just need to figure it out."

Jason let out a sigh, "You have this habit of helping people even when they don't deserve it, you just better hope it does not blow up in your face." 

There were steps and it sounded like Jason was walking away, so Rory decided to make herself known. Stepping out, she adjusted the shirt and saw Dick standing on the training mat in work out clothes. 

"What the hell are you doing Richard?" she asked, looking at him with crossed arms.

"I am standing here waiting, you are going to join me up here and we're going to test your skills."

Rory rolled her eyes, "Yeah? Wasn't the whole encounter in Bludhaven enough for you? I'm not the same person anymore Dick, my fighting has changed." she claimed, climbing into the ring and pulling back her hair. 

"If I remember, you shot me and Jason," he said, tossing her a staff.

"No, I missed you on purpose. I shot Jason because he shot me first, I wanted a little revenge." she grinned, catching the staff with ease and quickly got into a fighting stance. 

"That makes it so much better." Dick swung the staff over his shoulder and watched Rory, seeing the familiar glint in her eyes. Maybe not everything about her had changed. 

"Don't hold back." she taunted, stepping to the side. 

Dick laughed and followed her steps with his own. "I should say the same to you." 

Without another word, Rory dove for him and swung the staff down towards him as Dick blocked it with his own. He pushed her back, watching as she flipped and landed on her feet and gave him a grin.

"So, why did you really let me out of the cell? I know it wasn't just to let me shower," she asked, swinging the staff around her body and hitting Dick on the side only for him to hit the back of her knees

Her legs went out from under her, and she growled as she hit the floor watching as he just grinned down at her. 

"There could be many reasons I let you out, maybe I want to just kick your ass."

"A likely story, but I know there is more. There is always more with this family," she said, jumping up and hitting him with the staff once more only for him to roll away and block it with his own. 

"Speaking of family, when are you going to tell Oliver and Dinah that you are alive?" he asked, dodging her hit once more. 

Rory tightened her grip on the staff and glared at him. "The less they know the better." 

"You keep saying that," he started. "But what does it mean?" Dick made the offensive move this time and almost knocked Rory off of her feet again. "They helped raise you, they need to know that you are not dead at least. They've been worried sick, especially Roy." 

"Roy knows my situation." she snapped, hitting Dick on the shoulder.

"Maybe, but that does not mean he won't worry about you still. You're his sister Rory, you really think he wouldn't worry about you?" Dick asked, hitting her on the back making her fall forward and roll to her feet.

"It doesn't matter!" she snapped. "I did what I had to!" 

"So you had to break Tim's heart then?" he asked, staring her down.

"That's different," she said, clenching her jaw and leaping forward to hit him. Dick dodged out of the way again and hit her on the chest making her wince.

"How is it any different? You did to him what you did to the rest of us, only worse." Dick snapped, "He tried for months to find you after you left; even after what you did he still tried to find you."

"What happened between me and Tim is none of your business!" she yelled, going to hit him. Rory was angry now, Dick was bringing up old wounds that she had shut off back to the surface once again and it was pissing her off. What was his goal with all these questions?

Rory dove at Dick, who blocked her attack before kicking her feet out from under her making her crash to the floor with a loud thud. "It's my business when it's my brother." 

Catching her breath, Rory stared at the floor gripping the staff in her hand tightly still. "I did what I had to do, to keep everyone safe," she muttered. "It was the only way." Slowly, she got to her feet and turned to look at him.

"Was that the answer you wanted? I left to keep you all safe, I can not say anymore or it will put you at more risk because of the things I've done," she explained, dropping the staff.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" he asked, walking over towards her.

"Because like I said the less you knew the better. What happens to me doesn't matter, not when it means the people I care about stay safe." Rory looked up at Dick. "You can't tell anyone what I've told you, please."

Dick let out a sigh and dropped his head. "Alright, I won't tell anyone. But what you need to do is talk with Tim, both of you need it," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Rory shook her head, "Tim is better off hating me, that way he will get over me and find someone that is worthy of him like I never was." 

"You are one of the most stubborn people I know, now let's go again. Staying cramped in that cell can't be good for you." he chuckled, and ruffled her hair. 

Rory swatted his arm away with a laugh and kicked him back, making Dick double over and hold his stomach as he laughed as well. "Now that was rude."

"I was never the nice one." she grinned.

Dick rolled his eyes as they went back to sparring, he could see that she needed something to keep her occupied. He knew all too well the thoughts that could plague the mind, pushing you further into the dark hole that you tried so desperately to stay out of. 

As the two of them sparred, they didn't notice as a group of the others walked down the stairs. They didn't even notice that they were at it for hours, both Rory and Dick were covered in sweat but it didn't seem to bother either of them. 

Tim was one of the last down the stairs, swallowing hard when he saw Rory jump and land a kick to Dick's chest. Now that he knew Rory was Ghost, it was painfully obvious it was visible in the way she moved. Sure, Rory changed how she fought but the way she moved was the same. Every move she made was connected and fluid, it was from her years of training and ballet classes. No one else moved like her, it's what made her so unique.

He watched with Stephanie and Cass at his side as she swung herself over his shoulder and pull Dick down with her body and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Jason winced with a slight chuckle. 

"Seems like you can still kick ass princess."

Rory stiffened at the nickname, she hadn't been called that in a long time and it had caught her off guard. It only made her realize just how much she missed all of them, even with the stupid bickering they always did. They were all family, not by blood but by something stronger that held them together. 

Suddenly, Rory felt as if she was intruding. After she helped Dick to his feet, Rory excused herself and walked back to the showers to wash the sweat and dirt off of her body. Her body ached, but it ached because she had worked herself so hard. After her conversation with Dick, Rory was lost in her thoughts and as a result, she trained herself harder and harder. It was how she coped with the intrusive thoughts, by taking her anger out on a punching bag; sometimes an unsuspecting asshole who needed their teeth knocked in, 

Rory was so lost in her thoughts, that she had forgotten to grab spare clothes. 

"Fuck." she muttered to herself. With a groan, she wrapped herself in a towel and quietly stepped out of the showers. The others were still in the main training hall where she had left them so one was going to catch her in a towel trying to find clothes. If they were going to keep her here, the least they could do was go get her stuff from her hideout so she could change into her own clothes for once. 

Opening the door, Rory stepped out and looked around. No one seemed to be in the area, she tightened her grip on the towel and slowly made her way to the stash of spare clothes that was kept for various situations. 

She looked through the stacks to find a shirt and pants in her size when Rory heard something behind her. Jumping, she quickly turned around and saw that it was Tim standing there with his eyes wide and the stack of files he was holding on the floor. 

Rory didn't know what to do, she was frozen in place as was Tim who just stared at her. She could feel his eyes taking in the sight of her in a towel, not that it would be the first time. Tim had seen her in less, he knew things about her body that no one else did. 

For instance, his eyes went to where the scar from Slade would be; right in the middle of her stomach, and where the chemical burn was on her side that hid another scar underneath from a metal pole sticking through her side. But his eyes went to other places, like the scars that adorned her arms and legs that were not there the last time he had seen her.

There was a gunshot wound on her thigh, most likely from when Jason had shot her previously a few weeks ago. Of course, she had gotten him back with a matching scar, but that didn't take away the fact that Rory was beating up her body with this new life of hers. It was only a matter of time before it gave out on her and she died.

"What do you want Timothy?" she snapped.

Tim snapped out of his trance and looked at her, Rory's deep brown eyes pulling him in like they always did. They were always warm, and looking into them felt like home. The closest thing he could compare them to was the first cup of coffee in the morning, welcomed and refreshing.

Shaking his head, he quickly bent over and started to pick up the files that he had dropped upon seeing her. "I was bringing these in here to store them, they're old case files," he said softly.

Rory let out a sigh and she too leaned over and helped him pick them up while still holding onto her towel tightly. "Well, maybe you shouldn't drop them next time," she said, looking up at him. She had always loved the blue of his eyes, they weren't the natural bright blue everyone talked about. His were a deep blue, like the depths of the ocean, were. 

She didn't know how long she was staring, but Rory cleared her throat and handed the files she had grabbed to him before getting to her feet. "Don't drop them again, I won't help you pick them up," she said and grabbed the clothes she had found and disappeared behind the shower door.

Locking it behind her, Rory leaned back against the wooden door and let out a sigh. Pretending that she never loved him was going to be harder than she thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one went places, didn't it? Dick knows some things, but then again he is Dick. She can't lie to him, but Rory and Tim had a little moment and it made me happy to write something even though it lasted only a few minutes.


	11. Chapter Ten

When Rory made it out of the showers, everyone was in the cave now. Even those who had not seen her the night before, and she wanted nothing more than to shrink from under their gazes. Keeping her head down, Rory walked over to her cell and sat down before someone could say anything to her. This was not the time nor the place for it, and it seemed that they were all getting their assignments for the night.

She sat there quietly, her elbows on her knees as she supported her head. Rory needed to get back out there and track down Samantha Wilkins but she was not going to sneak out of the cave. That was not going to get her any friends.

Everyone was quiet as they listened to Bruce give out assignments, leaving Jason, Tim, and Duke there alone. Slowly, she glanced up to see Bruce cast a look her way before turning and looking back at Jason and Tim. 

"The two of you will be following Samantha Wilkins, see if Rory's story and Damian's intel check out. Report back if there are any problems, and don't let her know you are following her," he explained. 

Both Jason and Tim gave him a nod before they climbed onto their bikes and rode out of the cave, leaving her alone with Duke and Bruce. Hearing what the assignment was that he gave them, she stood up and let out a sigh.

"Bruce, you need to let me out with them. I've been dealing with the League of Assassins for a year now and if this woman is as dangerous as I think, they are going to need my help," she said quickly. 

"They can handle it on their own Aurora, you are staying here until I know I can trust you," Bruce said, grabbing his cowl and placing it over his head as Damian stood by the Batmobile waiting for him. 

"You don't understand! They'll get themselves killed!" she cried, hitting the glass.

"And how do you know that?" he asked. "Are you ready to tell me the truth?"

Rory went quiet, she refused to tell them that the League was after her. It would only make them more protective of her and therefore, put them in danger. It was bad enough Dick knew that she left to protect them, and if Bruce really was the greatest detective in the world then there was a good chance he had a hunch about everything as well.

"You'll stay in that cell until you decide to talk," he said and walked to the Batmobile, climbing in with Damian right behind him leaving just her and Duke in the cave.

With a sigh, she sat down on the bench. "Why aren't you going out?" she asked him.

"I patrol during the day mostly, but I help out here during the night," Duke explained, sitting at the computer.

"When do you sleep? That can not be healthy for you."

"Is anything this family does actually healthy? Last I checked, getting your ass kicked every night by crazed whackos is not healthy at all," he commented, looking through the feed. 

"But, what about Barbara? Isn't she still Oracle?' Rory asked. Barbara was the one person she had yet to see, and honestly, one of the last she wanted to. Babs was like that older sister to her, the person she could go-to for anything from a simple chat, to just needing a pick me up when she was feeling down. 

"You don't know?" Duke turned in his seat to look at Rory as her eyes widened. What had happened to her while Rory was gone? Barbara wasn't dead right? But if she wasn't then where is she?

_"Batgirl to the cave, I just took down a squad of thugs outside Robinson Park. The police should be here soon."_

Rory got to her feet, craning her neck to try and look at the computer. Both Stephanie and Cassandra had taken the mantle of Batgirl before, but that meant Barbara was back in action. How the hell did that happen?

"Babs got experimental surgery done, and she got the ability to walk again. She's only been back in action for about a month now." Duke explained. 

She stood there in shock, Barbara was walking again? Getting a look at the computer, she caught a glimpse of Babs in her Batgirl suit as she ran across the rooftops. Barbara had told her how much she missed being out there, apart of the action. Now that she was thinking of it, Babs had mentioned that surgery to Rory before but she didn't think she would go through with it. It was experimental, and Rory was worried about the risk. But it seemed a risk worth taking, Barbara was fully recovered and protecting Gotham once more. 

"How are Jason and Tim?" she asked quickly.

"Fine, nothing seems to be happening so far. They are just following a car at the moment," he said.

Rory's eyes widened. "What? Who's car is it?"

"What's with all the questions? Don't you remember Bruce saying that they were tasked with following Samantha Wilkins?" he asked, with a raised brow.

"You have to let me out Duke, they are not going to last the night," she said quickly.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Because I do! If they are following the route I did, they are walking right into a trap!" she yelled, hitting the glass.

"Why should I trust you?" Duke said, focusing on Tim and Jason's cams.

Before Rory could speak, there was a grunt and Jason's cam went all over with Tim following suit. There were footsteps and words muttered that she could not make out, but Rory knew what it was.

"Damn it! The trap is meant for me and those two just walked right into it!" she screamed, hitting the glass more. "Let me out before I bust out of here myself!" she threatened. 

Duke watched the screen as Jason and Tim began to fight off the assassins that were not there to play. They were there to kill Rory and anyone who got in their way. Neither of them was ready to fight off assassins, and needed help and fast. But everyone else was a little preoccupied to go help. Duke had no other choice than to let her out.

With a sigh, he unlocked the cell and Rory ran and changed into her Ghost suit before placing the mask on her face. "Is my bike still here?" she asked.

"No time, just take mine. Make sure I get it back in one piece yeah?" he called as Ghost jumped onto his signal cycle and drove off into the night. Pressing the button on her mask, the com system linked up with the cave so Duke could see everything she did and hear it as well.

"Can you hear me?" she asked as she sped into town as fast as the bike would take her.

_"Loud and clear Ghost, hurry. It doesn't look like they are going to last much longer, these guys seem to be out for blood." Duke said._

"Yeah." she huffed. "My blood." Revving the bike more, she tore through the streets of Gotham to get to the location. As the buildings passed her by, she couldn't help but think of all the nights she had spent with Tim and the others protecting this very city and the bike chases they had gone on. Duke's bike was not bad, but it was bright yellow and it only made her miss her own bike even more.

"Alright, I need an address."

_"On a corner up by fourth, you familiar with it?" he asked._

Ghost huffed. "Yeah, I know it well. Slade almost killed me on that rooftop a couple of years ago." She urged the bike to go faster, Jason and Tim both relied on her. Turning onto the street, she dove off the bike and grappled up to the roofs and could see them a few buildings away. 

Taking off across the roofs, Ghost grabbed her gun and shot a few of the assassins in the legs making them fall over. Jumping across the alley, she flipped over their shoulders and landed in front of Red Robin and Red Hood who looked worse for wear. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" Red Robin asked.

"Saving your ungrateful ass!" she snapped as she knocked out another assassin. "You're welcome by the way." 

Red Robin rolled his eyes and went back to fighting, with Ghost and Jason at his side. The three of them stood back to back, Ghost armed with her swords and Red Hood and Red Robin armed with their guns and staff. "Let's get this over with quickly shall we? I have places to be." she grinned.

"Yeah, like back in that cell."

Ghost took a deep breath. "If you have a problem with me being here, just say it Red. No need to beat around the bush," she growled and kicked back another assassin before she sliced their legs and sent them to the floor as she punched them. 

"Alright fine!" he called. "I don't trust you! How the hell did you even get out?"

"Does it matter how she got out? What matters is that we are still standing and it's because of her. Now shut the fuck up and fight damn it!" Red Hood yelled, getting irritated with Ghost and Red Robin fighting with each other. 

Red Robin frowned as he fought off the assassins, Red Hood backing him up. There had to be at least fifteen assassins and their odds were dwindling.

"Go for the legs, they're weaker there!" Ghost yelled as she took down three, only for two more to show up and begin fighting her. "Before you open your mouth to bitch at me, I've been dealing with these assholes for a year now. Just do what I say and you can yell at me later!" she snapped and kicked them off the roof. 

Red Hood fought off the ones he could, making sure that they did not get too close to him. Looking around, he could see that there were only more showing up. Whatever Ghost did, the League of Assassins was pissed and they wanted her dead. Deep down he was sort of glad that he and Red Robin were there because that gave them all a higher chance of survival.

"Why are there so many of them?" Red called, as she knocked out two of them.

"The two of you walked into a trap meant for me! What did you expect bird brain?" Ghost answered, stabbing one in the shoulder before kicking him in the head.

"Why would there be a trap for you?" he asked.

"If we survive, maybe I'll tell you." she grinned, whipping around and punching one in the throat before jumping and kicking him back.

As the three of them fought, Red Robin couldn't help but keep his eyes off of her. The way she moved was captivating, the way Ghost would wrap herself around the assassins before bringing them down. Looking behind her, there were two more sneakings up that she hadn't noticed. Quickly, he used his staff to jump over her and kick them back, Ghost standing straight to look at him.

"Thanks, Red, now let's give maneuver six a try for old times sake?" she grinned and ran towards him. On instinct, he linked his hands together and launched her in the air as she flipped and threw a dagger at an assassin before kicking him in the head. 

Getting to her feet, Ghost felt something behind her and froze. "Oh not you again." With a swing of her leg, she kicked the sword out of Cheshire's hand and sent it across the roof with a grin.

"Good to see you Aurora, how's the side?" Cheshire grinned.

"Great, why don't I return the favor?" Ghost grinned and armed with both of her swords, she launched herself at Cheshire who dodged away and threw knives at her. Managing to block them all, Ghost grinned and went after her again. 

Red Hood was fighting off his own group of assassins when he saw Cheshire take off with Ghost right behind her. 

Ghost chased Cheshire across the roof, following her without a second thought. She was there to kill her, so maybe it would give Red Hood and Red Robin a chance if their main target had gotten away. Ghost heard Cheshire laugh in the wind as she threw a dagger, missing her leg by inches. Cheshire rolled to a stop and laughed, looking at Ghost who was stupid enough to follow her. 

"Hey new guy, any idea on how to stop her?" Ghost asked into the comm.

_"You could just call me Signal, and I'm not sure. Cheshire has an extensive amount of training much like you I assume, so you just have to outsmart her to stop her."_

"Great advice, thanks," she muttered and held her swords out in a defensive position. "Leave them alone Cheshire, or you'll deal with me." she snarled.

"Oh, still protective of those you betrayed? How poetic, they hate you yet you still fight to protect them." she grinned. 

Ghost gritted her teeth. "What they think of me means nothing, what matters is that I'm going to stop you. Ra's can send whoever he wants after me, but I won't stop until he is stopped and I can live out the rest of my life out in peace."

Cheshire laughed at her words, "You couldn't beat me last time, what makes you think you can now?"

"I wasn't prepared, this time I am." Ghost grinned and threw several smoke bombs onto the roof and used the infrared vision on her mask to see where Cheshire was. Jumping up, Ghost landed a kick to her side and send her rolling across the roof.

"You think this can stop me Aurora? I was trained by the League. This is nothing." Cheshire taunted.

Quietly, Ghost crept around and kicked her in the back before Cheshire quickly turned and blocked her sword with her own. "I do have to admit though, you blend in with the shadows well." Cheshire grinned and kicked Ghost back, engaging her in a sword fight on the roof they were standing on. 

With every move Cheshire made, Ghost was ready to counter it with a move of her own. Their dance was deadly and precise, the clinks of their blades resonating across the roofs as the smoke cleared giving Red Hood and Red Robin a view of what was happening. 

Ghost jumped up and flipped over Cheshire, slicing her arm in the process. With a growl, Cheshire gripped her arm and glared at Ghost who stood there with a smug look on her face. "Come on kitty cat, is that the best you can do?" she taunted.

"Look again Ghost, I got you as well." 

Ghost's eyes widened when she heard a faint beeping, looking there was a small device attached to her sword. "Oh fu-" before she could finish her sentence, Ghost's sword was blown up as she was thrown back onto the roof with a grunt.

There was a kick to her side, and Ghost grabbed the foot that hit her and dragged them to the ground, and punched Cheshire in the face, cracking the mask that hid her face. Cheshire caught her fist before she could land another hit and twisted her arm and held her face down against the concrete of the roof they were on, pressing a dagger into her back. 

"Your suit may be bulletproof for the most part, but will it stop my dagger from entering your lungs?" she taunted, pressing harder into Ghost's back.

Letting out a whimper, Ghost flinched away with a growl. How did she manage to get put in this position again, maybe she was in over her head with this whole mission of hers.

"Let her go!" 

Looking up, Cheshire was met with a foot to her face and was kicked back by Red Robin who stood over Ghost protectively. There was a frown on his face as he held out his bo staff, keeping Cheshire at bay. 

"Lay a hand on her again, you will regret it." he threatened. 

Cheshire looked between Red Robin and Ghost who was slowly getting to her feet and adjusted her mask. "I see that it's pointless at this moment, but this is not over Aurora Queen. We will come for you again and we will not stop until we get what we want." she grinned and disappeared into the shadows. 

Red Robin darted after her, only to see that she was gone. With a huff, he turned to look at Ghost who was on her feet once more. He couldn't see the expression on her face, but he had a feeling she was mad. Her shoulders were hunched and she was clenching her fists, but what was she mad at.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I didn't need your help." she snapped.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at her, was she serious right now? "Are you fucking kidding me? I just saved your life, a thank you wouldn't be so hard to say you know?" he snapped back. 

"I had Cheshire where I wanted her! You swooping in to be the hero ruined my plans!" Ghost snapped storming over to Red Robin, who watched her with wide eyes. 

"You're upset that I kept you from dying!?" he yelled, holding his arms out. "That makes absolutely no sense!"

"Hey! I'm the one that saved your ass in the first place! You idiots walked right into a trap and I am the only one who came to your rescue so where is my thank you?" Ghost snapped, stopping right in front of him. 

"How did you know it was a trap anyway?" he snapped back looking down at her as she stood in front of him. 

"How do you think Batman caught me in the first place! I've hidden from every single one of you for a year now, do you really think I wanted to slip up especially in Gotham!?" she yelled. "I had only one thing to gain while being here and the rest of you keep getting in the way of that! If you think for a second I came back for you, you are sorely mistaken Red." 

Ghost turned on her heel and looked to her left where Red Hood stood watching their conversation. "Don't follow me, either of you." she threatened and dove off the roof and disappeared into the night.

Red Hood and Red Robin ran to the ledge and saw that she was gone, the former letting out a loud swear. "Well, that went well." 

Red Robin stayed quiet, the words she said ringing through his head. He refused to admit it to himself, that he had hoped she came back for him but Rory quickly shattered that hope like his heart and took off. With a sigh, he looked around.

"Samantha is gone, if we are ever going to catch her we need Ghost's help whether we like it or not." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way longer than I thought it was going to, but what did you think? Tim and Rory were getting a little tense for a moment there, it's all that tension. I am sorry that this didn't come out sooner, taking almost a week to write things have just been kind of crazy between life and school.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Ghost ran through the street as fast as she could, Cheshire was still in town and there was a high chance she was not alone. They were out for her head, it seemed the League was finally catching onto the hint that she was not going to join them so it was decided that she was too dangerous to live. It was a dick move to leave Jason and Tim on that roof, but if she didn't leave she would have confessed everything right then and there. 

She planned to return to the cave, but there were things she needed to get first. The bag she carried everywhere was still in her safe house, and it held everything she kept with her on this hunt of hers and there were items she refused to lose because Bruce had her under house arrest. 

Jumping down she swung through the open window and rolled into the bedroom and took a quick look around. It seemed that nothing was missing, or out of place. Slowly, Rory rose to her feet staying as silent as she could listening for a hint that someone was there. A hand rested on the hilt of her sword as she slowly made her way to the corner where her bag rested, Rory's dark eyes narrowing in the pitch blackness of her temporary home. 

Something was not right, she could feel it but Rory had no time to investigate. She had to get back to the Batcave before she was found again and almost killed again. Her other hand held the straps to her bag as she flung it over her shoulder. It was silent, almost too silent as if the birds of the night knew someone was there that she was unaware of. 

Taking one more look around, Rory quickly dove out the window and ran unaware of the flash of silver that shone across the room once she turned her back.

"Hey Signal, there a tracker on your bike?" she called into the night.

_"Did you forget who I work with, Batman puts a tracker in everything. But you are right around the corner from it, I'm guessing you are on your way back?" Duke asked._

"Yeah, the other two are alive at least the last I saw them they were." she chuckled, jumping off the roof and rolling into a landing. "I'll be there in a few, Bats isn't back yet?"

_"No, no one is back yet. See you when you get here Ghost."_

"right back at you Signal." she chuckled jumping onto the bright yellow bike and taking off towards the cave.

As she drove, Ghost could not shake the feeling that she was being watched. It was an uneasy feeling and no matter how many twists and turns she made, there was a feeling of someone watching her from the shadows. Not wanting to push her luck further, Ghost made a straight shot for the cave.

Pulling into the familiar waterfall, Rory saw that she was the last one back. Taking off her mask, she shot Duke a look who only shrugged. He wasn't lying when he said that no one was back, but then she went silent, and somehow the others managed to beat her back.

Getting off the bike, Rory held her bag close to her chest and avoided the gaze of Bruce who stood there with his arms crossed. 

"Where were you?" he asked.

"I kept Jason and Tim alive, you're welcome," she said, heading straight for the cell.

"Where did you go after that?" Tim asked.

"To get my bag?" she asked, turning to look at him. "I thought it was obvious, you know considering the fact that I came back with it?"

"What's in the bag?" 

Rory groaned and dropped it in front of them. "Are you really that suspicious of me? Seriously? After I kept two of you alive, I thought you were paranoid but this is a whole new level." she snapped. "Go ahead, go through my bag just try not to get a little too excited when you get to my underwear." 

None of them made a move to look in the bag, Rory staring at them with an unamused expression. If they were going to be this ridiculous, so was she. They should at least trust the fact that she would never bring something dangerous into the cave to hurt them. They may all hate her, but that did not mean she hated them or wanted any of them hurt. 

After a few moments of tense silence, Rory bent over and grabbed her bag, and walked back to the cell. Shutting the door, she set it on the ground and sat on the cot, and crossed her arms. Duke looked mildly amused at the situation, he knew what Rory was doing because he saw the footage from her mask. What he wanted to know was what made them all refuse to trust her, sure she was an assassin but did that mean they had to hate her?

Aurora Queen was a mystery, he had never even heard of her until she showed up in the cave a few days ago but ever since the others had been on edge like they were waiting for her to do something. Duke knew from Damian that she and Tim had a past and from the look of it, it was a long one but no one was willing to elaborate for him to understand but maybe if he got Rory to trust him she would confide in him?

Rory leaned back against the wall and looked around, they all had lived without her. It killed her to see it, Tim talking with Cass and Steph, Dick with Barbara while Damian was bugging Jason. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, that they all stopped living while she was gone? Of course, they didn't, Gotham needed to be protected and no one else was going to do it if they were not around. 

Her eyes went to her bag where at the bottom, rested the wooden box she had gotten from Tim that held her prized possessions. Tim didn't even know she had kept it, and if he did would he still think different of her? The sounds of their conversations drifted through the cave, and it was then Rory had never felt more alone.

She laid back on the cot and closed her eyes, hoping that they would get the hint she wanted to be left alone. One by one, they stopped talking and everyone exited the cave. Thinking that she was alone, Rory sat up and grabbed her bag sliding it over to her. The temptation to look in the box had gotten stronger, she needed something to look back on.

This last year of her life was not an easy one, each day was a struggle not to lose herself in the darkness Rory surrounded herself in. The more she killed, the more she felt herself slip away into the nothingness and become numb to it and it scared her. But being scared meant that she still had feelings, so she held onto that fear until it too slowly began to fade away and replaced it with nothing but pain.

Pain from the fact that she was alone, and she had done it to herself. But like always, Rory told herself it was for good reason. She had to do this, to keep Tim, Oliver, Roy, and Dinah safe. Rory knew that they could take care of themselves, Tim having dealt with the fact that Ra's wanted him as a successor more than Bruce or Damian. Dinah and Oliver had fought the League more times than they could count and could clearly take care of themselves, but Rory was their weakness. If she removed herself from the equations, the League wouldn't be tempted to use her against them.

"You seem pretty deep in thought there." 

Rory jumped out of her skin and looked up and saw Barbara standing there with her arms crossed. She gulped and slowly set the box behind her back, hoping Barbara didn't see it. If she saw it, it was unknown because she had a neutral expression on her face.

"Just reflecting, I see you went through with that surgery," she replied. 

"It seemed a risk worth taking, you know how much I missed being out there. Being Oracle, I got to keep everyone safe from a distance. But now, I can make sure they stay safe." she explained.

Rory nodded, it made sense. Multiple times, Barbara had told her how much she missed being Batgirl after it was taken away from her by the Joker. It was still unknown what he did to her after he shot her, but Rory knew that it was not good or something she was willing to talk about. 

"You know, they may act like they hate you but deep down everyone missed you."

Huffing a laugh, Rory looked up at Barbara. "They sure have a funny way of showing it, I almost thought they would rather me dead." 

"You know for a fact they do not want you dead, why else would Dick save you all those weeks ago?" she asked. 

"Guilty conscience, I knew that between him and Jason Dick would not let me bleed out. It's what makes him, him." 

Barbara chuckled and shook her head. "You might have a point there, Dick can't help but save people. It's who he has always been" she raised her head to look at Rory. "You were the same way yourself, maybe it's why the two of you got along so well."

Rory closed her eyes, "I'm not that person anymore, the Rory you knew is dead. All that's left is her shell animated by a ghost of the girl you want me to be."

"But you could be, no one is truly lost forever, Rory. We all have lost ourselves at one point, but we came back. We didn't let our failures stop us, it made each of us stronger. It's how you learn to be a better version of yourself, by struggling and not giving up no matter what."

Letting out a sigh, Rory finally lifted her head to look at her. "Babs, there is no going back for me. Not after what I did to Tim..." she muttered.

Barbara opened the cell door and sat with Rory on the cot and slowly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Rory, what aren't you telling us?" she asked softly.

She kept her head turned away, but Rory did not brush her hand off. Could she tell Barbara what she was going and why? Rory refused to tell anyone what she was doing because she wanted to keep them safe, but it was getting harder and harder. There was a pit at the bottom of her stomach that grew and grew each time she told a lie, and it never went away. How could she tell Barbara that she crushed Tim's heart to keep him safe?

Rory didn't know she was crying until the tears landed on her hands that were clasped on her lap, she took a deep breath to try and hide it but Barbara saw right through it. She didn't hesitate a second before she pulled Rory close and held her tightly to her chest as she cried. 

"I'm so tired of all of this..." she sobbed, gripping her arms. "All I wanted was to keep everyone I loved from getting hurt, only to turn around and do it myself. As shitty as this city is, I miss it." 

Barbara held her close and listened as she cried, rubbing her back. "You miss more than the city don't you?"

Rory kept her mouth shut as tears fell from her eyes, the thing she missed most lived in this city and was upstairs probably cursing her name at this very moment because she made his worst fear real. The love she felt for Tim was stronger than anything she had ever felt, and it killed her to say that she never loved him. 

Because of her, Tim was probably never going to trust a single person when they say they love him now. She had cut him deep with her words alone, and disappearing was the icing on the cake. She broke the promise, that wherever she went he would go too and where he went she would follow. Partners, through thick and thin. 

But they weren't partners anymore, they weren't even friends. Rory and Tim were strangers, passing in the night without a single word to the other. There was a high chance that they would never be the same, how could he even look at her after what she said.

"I saw the box Rory, you don't have to hide it from me. I know you miss him, how could you not?" 

"He hates me, Babs... I said horrible things to him, he has every right to hate me." she whimpered, the words finally falling from her lips. "I said that I never loved him, that he was just someone to fuck while I was in town." The tears were in full force again, as she recounted the words she said that night to Tim with vivid detail.

"Everyone hates me because I hurt him so bad, and I don't know how to even forgive myself." 

Barbara rubbed circles in her back as she listened, "Maybe it isn't yourself that you need forgiveness from, you need it from someone else first." 

"He can't know, no one can," Rory mumbled, the words barely heard.

"How can we help you if you can't tell us the truth, Rory? This mission of yours is only going to get you hurt, or worse killed. We already lost you once, don't make us lose you a second time." 

Rory sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking at Babs. "I need to go back out tomorrow night, depending on how things with Samantha goes I will tell everyone why I left."

Barbara gave her a soft smile before she nodded. "Alright, how about you get some sleep alright? Do you want to come up to the manor and sleep in a real bed and not this cot? Your room is still the same, no one has touched it."

Shaking her head, Rory declined. "I doubt they trust me enough to let me upstairs. I don't want to step on more toes than I already have."

Getting to her feet, Barbara looked at Rory. "Alright, but please try and sleep okay?" she called and walked out of the cell and waved before she walked up the stairs to the manor. 

Now that she was alone in the cave, Rory changed quickly into sleep attire and curled up on the cot. Crying had taken a lot of her energy and she was exhausted, it wasn't long before she passed out and let sleep overtake her.

The next day had come and gone quickly, Rory had spent a lot of her time training with a punching bag. It was clear that she had a lot of pent up feelings and did not want to be caught up in it, afraid she would break them in half. 

When the time came for patrol again, Rory gave her word that she would not kill Samantha just observe. Things were not sitting right with her about the whole situation and Rory wanted to know why. She was paired up with Dick for the night, seeing as he was the one least likely to kick her off a building.

Rory was currently off to the side and adjusting her gauntlets when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Tim behind her. This time, he didn't look angry at her but there was a hidden emotion in his blue eyes. Rory had to keep herself from getting lost in them like she always did and cleared her throat, queuing him to speak.

He rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh and looked at the ground. "I never got to thank you for your assistance last night, I wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world and you didn't have to come after us."

It took everything in her to not brush the loose hair from his face like she used to out of habit. "Is this the start of an apology Timothy?" she teased lightly.

Tim let out a huff. "A little bit of that, along with a thank you."

Rory felt a smile grow on her face. "I guess I should say the same, I wasn't very nice either. if you hadn't have stopped Cheshire, I would not be here. So thank you, Tim."

The two of them stood there awkwardly, not meeting the gaze of the other. They weren't friends, but this was a step in the right direction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm, some things happened here, but that idea I want to do to Rory I am very excited about. I have mentioned it before in this very book, I wonder if you can pick it out. But look at them, they had a normal conversation, I see this as an absolute win!
> 
> Things are going to get intense for Rory soon, I am very excited!


	13. Chapter Twelve

Ghost and Nightwing stood atop a skyscraper as they watched the city below. They were going to get Samantha, Ghost knew it. She could feel it in her gut that they were going to get something tonight, and it only fueled her adrenaline further. Looking to her left, Nightwing stood there and watched the building from across the street intently. 

"She is still in her office, it's now or never Ghost," he called. "You ready?"

Ghost looked at him and nodded with a grin on her face, hidden by the mask on her face. "I was born ready for this Nightwing." and with that, she jumped off the roof and dived through the air before firing her grappling gun shooting through the night sky towards the roof of the building. 

Their goal was to get Samantha Wilkins alone and get her to talk, she was part of something big but Ghost was unsure to what. That's what she and Nightwing were there for, to get answers. Once she landed on the roof, Ghost rolled to a stop and looked around. So far, there were no assassins there waiting for them.

Opening the grate, Nightwing and Ghost slipped into the vents and quietly made their way to the shaft that would take them to the floor they needed. 

Being on this mission made her think of all the good times she had with Nightwing on patrol, sure he was several years older than her, but they had become great friends in the time she was in Gotham. They both had similar skillsets, with his acrobats and her ballet. Both required precision and agility and there were many sleepless nights where he would try to teach her a few moves from his circus days, and Ghost would repay it by teaching him some ballet. It kept them both limber and in shape.

Being in ballet had taught her to stay light on her feet and that helped immensely with her late-night runs. She was supposed to be an assassin and no one could hear her coming until it was too late. Ghost knew that Batman and the others wanted her to leave the life behind and rejoin them as her previous persona, but she knew that it would take some time before she could even try.

Nightwing came to a halt in front of her and held a hand out to stop her, making sure that she knew to stay quiet. Ghost gave him a nod and listened quietly, the area seemed quiet enough. The birds of the night were chirping away along with the various bugs from the outside. But something felt off, Ghost didn't know if Nightwing felt it or not but there was a good chance he did. 

Quietly, they dropped to the bottom of the shaft and waited once more to make sure they weren't detected. The last time Ghost had been in a vent was in Venice and she did not want a repeat of that scenario. It was bad enough she had to make sure Tim got out alive, but then there were harpoons being shot at them and it was all around a bad time.

The more they walked, the more uneasy Ghost felt. Something for sure was not right and it was visible in the way Nightwing moved that he knew as well. He turned to look back at her, making sure she was alright still before they opened the vent and dropped to the floor below. They were on the same level that Samantha's office was, so they were in the right place.

It was unnerving just how empty the building seemed, let alone the fact that Samantha was still here this late. Normally she would be halfway across town at this time, but they had seen her in her office window still here so they took the chance.

Carefully, they walked down the halls making sure they stayed quiet. Ghost kept an eye out, using the lenses in her mask to make sure they didn't walk into a trap. Duke was back in the cave keeping an eye on their footage, between her mask and Nightwing's suit cam. 

Peeking into partially open doors, the two of them kept an eye out as they reached the door at the end of the hall. It was deadly quiet in the room, but the lights were still on. Maybe Samantha had fallen asleep at her desk? Ghost and Nightwing looked at each other before he nodded and she slowly pushed the door open and what they saw, was not what they expected.

Samantha was at her desk for sure, and she was not asleep. Instead, she was dead with blood dripping from her lips. Ghost was the first in the room and groaned.

"Well fuck, this complicates things," she muttered.

Nightwing stepped into the room and looked at her, "What do you me- oh." 

Ghost raised her hands in the air, "This was not me, I swear. I just walked in and found her like this." she elaborated.

Nightwing stepped closer and turned the chair to examine the body better, taking in every detail he could. Ghost followed suit and scanned every inch of the room, no one seemed to be there with them but someone had killed Samantha while they were on their way into the building. When they saw her last, Samantha was very much alive. She must have taken her last breath moments before they walked in, but that would mean the killer was still nearby.

"This makes no sense, she was alive twenty minutes ago. You were with me so I know for a fact it was not you," he said, confusion laced in his tone. His gloved hands felt for a pulse, as blood seeped out from her mouth. 

"Whoever did this can't have gotten far, but who else would want her dead?" he asked looking at Ghost who was still scanning the room.

"To my knowledge, it was just me that wanted her dead. But it seems that she was on someone else's list. Do you think she was poisoned?" she asked.

Nightwing shook his head. "I'm not sure, I've never seen this before. Who did you say she had connections with?" he asked, looking back at the body and the knife. 

"She had big ties to the League of Assassins, but Ra's is too dramatic for something like this. if she were a target of his, we would know, trust me on this." Ghost knew too well what it was like to be a target of Ra's Al Ghul, he still wanted her brought in dead or alive. There was no in-between.

"You had said she had other connections, what was the other?" 

"Just a bunch of crooked politicians. Most if not all of them are from Gotham actually," she answered.

"Which ones, maybe I know them." he chuckled, scanning the rest of the room.

"I hate to break it to you, but Bruce Wayne is probably the only one who has not fallen on the wrong side of the law," she remarked, looking at the desk, it seemed that Samantha didn't even put up a fight. Either she poisoned herself and was killed instantly or she knew her killer. Both were possible outcomes, but neither she nor Nightwing had enough evidence.

"What makes no sense, is if she was poisoned how did it get into her system?"she asked. "There is not a single food or drink in this room." 

"There are several other ways she could have injected the poison. Did you see any puncture wounds on the body?" Nightwing asked as he kept inspecting the room. Something for sure was not right, Samantha was alive only minutes ago so where did the killer go? 

There was only the door that led to the hall and the windows around them, but none of those were shattered and they had seen no one on their way in.

"Hey Nights, where does that door lead?" Ghost asked.

Nightwing looked to where she was pointing and saw that it was a closet she was pointing at, and he suddenly got a really bad feeling about their situation.

As Ghost finished speaking, the lights in the building went out and her heart rate jumped. Nightwing's head shot up and quickly grabbed Ghost's arm and pulled her close. "We have to go now," he said quickly.

"What? We have more to figure out here?" she objected.

"Yeah, we're not going to get very far if we both end up dead." Nightwing dragged her to the window, keeping an eye on all exits. He should have known that they were never truly alone in the tower, someone was watching them or something more like.

Before Ghost could even speak, Nightwing had broken the window and pushed her out of it before following after quickly. Seconds later, the whole floor blew up and Ghost grabbed her grapple gun and swing to a nearby roof with a loud thud and a rough landing. She rolled across the gravel and held her side. She had landed in the wrong position and had hurt her ribs in the process.

Nightwing was right behind Ghost and quickly helped her up, making sure that she was alright.

"You know," she winced. "I agreed to let you come because I thought you were the one person to not throw me off a building? Way to prove me wrong, big bird."

"Are you sure she does not have ties to anything else besides the League?" he asked quickly, his voice sounding a little panicked.

Ghost looked at him with a confused expression. "Yes, why are you asking? This is what I have been dealing with for the last year, I got the intel from a trusted source."

"Who was your source?" he asked.

Looking to her left, she saw the floor of the building lit in flames and the sirens of the fire department rushing to the scene. "My source of intel was Malcolm Merlyn," she answered. "You know before he was sent to kill me."

"You have a lot of explaining to do." he pointed a finger at her and Ghost just groaned, holding her side still.

"There's a lot more to this than you are letting on Ghost, we need to get back to the cave sooner than later and have a talk." 

She gave him a nod as the two of them took off for their bikes. It was time she told them what had been going on. The two of them took off for the bikes they had stashed and drove for the cave. Ghost's side was still hurting when she arrived and almost stumbled off of her bike when they arrived.

Duke had seen them come in and quickly ran over to help Rory stand as she gripped her side and removed her mask and hood. He walked her over to the medical table where she laid down and took a deep breath. 

"What the fuck happened?" he asked, looking at her and Dick.

"Samantha was dead when we got there, and we have no idea who killed her. Besides, Rory has a lot of explaining to do." Dick responded and sat in an open chair. Alfred had arrived moments later and let out a sigh. 

"It's not a normal night until you return with an injury Miss Aurora," he commented as he stood at her side. Rory gave him a sheepish smile.

"Sorry Alfred, I guess old habits die hard." she chuckled as she winced. 

Alfred tried to hide his look of amusement as he helped Rory out of her suit and took a look at her side. It was starting to bruise, and it was sensitive to the touch so he applied so relief cream and sighed.

One by one everyone filtered into the cave after their night of work and took one look at Rory and Dick and knew that something had happened. Bruce was the first one to them and asked the million-dollar question.

"What happened?" he asked, looking between her and Dick.

"Samantha is dead," Dick said. 

Immediately, everyone looked at Rory as if they expected her to have done it. Seeing their looks, her jaw dropped and she let out a scoff. "It was not me! One second she is alive and in her office, the next she is dead with nothing to go on except the fact that she was most likely poisoned!" 

"Sorry for the assumption, but literally two days ago you admitted that you were in town to kill her." Jason said with his arms crossed, "But if it wasn't you then who was it?" 

"I have no idea, to my knowledge I was the only one going after members like this. Either one of them beat me to the punch or someone else wants her dead." Rory explained as Alfred wrapped her rips in bandages to keep them from breaking.

"Why are you hunting the League?" Dick asked.

Rory sighed and dropped her head. "A day or so before I left Gotham, I was approached by someone from the League in the name of Ra's Al Ghul. I was told that he wanted me to join, or I was to perish instead. I didn't like the idea of either, so I hopped on the first plane out of here and hid." 

"But why did you leave instead of coming to us?" Barbara asked.

"Dick was in Bludhaven still, Jason was out of the country and Cass was in Hong Kong. Tim had left for Jump City and that left Bruce, Kate, Steph, and Damian," she explained.

"Yeah, but that doesn't tell us why you left," Steph said, with a bit of hostility in her voice still.

Rory looked at her hands that were in her lap. "I'm not looking for forgiveness, at all. But, it's come to the point where I can not hide the truth from you guys anymore." Slowly, she pulled her shirt back down as Alfred finished and looked at everyone who was stood in front of her.

"I left town because if I told them no, all of you along with Oliver, Dinah and Roy would become immediate targets. I could not take that risk so I got on the first flight out of Gotham and didn't look back." 

The others all gave each other a look before nodding for her to go on. 

"I spent the next few months training myself the way Merlyn trained me to fight the Ninth Circle; deadly and precise. To get them off my back, I had to stop them and you know as well as I do the League of Assassins doesn't stop with a simple no. I had to abandon everything about who I was, about who Aurora Queen was and become a whisper in the wind."

"A ghost," Tim said softly, looking at his feet.

Rory gave him a slow nod. "Yeah, a ghost."

Tim refused to look up, he knew that Rory's eyes were watching him waiting for an answer but what was he supposed to say? Rory had left town because the League of Assassins wanted her to join them or die, but that didn't take away the pain she had caused him. Hearing her side of the story, Tim wanted to believe that maybe deep down she still loved him and the reason she had dumped him was to protect him. 

But the common-sense side of his brain said different, if Rory really had truly loved him then she would have said something before she disappeared so he wouldn't have spent so much time looking for her. But the way she had just brushed off the fact that he left for Jump City, because of what she did to him, hurt him. It sounded as if Rory really did not care for him like he thought she did, Tim had wasted the better part of two almost three years with her thinking that she was the one for him.

"The last year, I have traveled around the world putting an end to their trade and slowly dwindling their numbers and resources. It's safe to say that I have finally pissed off Ra's considering who he has sent for my head." she huffed, wincing at the pain in her side.

"Do you know who is after you?" Bruce asked, his arms crossed over his chest. 

Rory laughed, "You're going to get a kick out of this. Ra's has sent not only Malcolm and Cheshire after me, but I was told that Lady Shiva has been enlisted to bring me down along with everyone's favorite tactician Deathstroke." 

With the last word ringing around the cave, there was a suffocating silence. Deathstroke had hurt every person there in more ways than one but no one more than Rory. He took everything she thought she knew about her life and shattered the illusion she had lived happily in for so long. And it was no secret Lady Shiva had left her mark on the residents of Wayne Manor as well. 

"I also got more intel on my parents while I was gone. They were for sure assassins for the League and were killed for going rogue. Slade made the building exploding look like an accident, to cover up the fact that they were already dead before it went up in flames."

"How did you get such detail about the attack? It's not just information given freely Sonnet, so how did you get it?" Damian demanded.

"I might have snuck into Nanda Parbat a couple of months ago, I think that might have been the final straw before Ra's officially set out the hit to have me killed. Probably should not have set the place on fire, or insult him to literally every assassin that came my way." Rory shrugged.

She could see Damian trying to fight the smile that was growing on his face, he might not agree with everything Rory was doing but even he could not deny that his grandfather needed a good dose of his own medicine every few decades. 

"So far you have killed people all around the world, snuck into their base in Venice, set Nanda Parbat on fire, tried to kill Tiger Shark in Bludhaven, and came here to kill Samantha?" Jason counted off, using his fingers, and looked at the others. "Am I missing anything else?"

"She shot you in the leg." Dick chimed in.

"Because he shot me first," Rory interjected quickly and watched Jason try to keep himself from smiling. As much as he wanted to kick her ass, Rory's sense of humor and attitude was greatly missed in the Manor. She was the final piece of the puzzle and brought everyone together, even if they were trying to stop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the truth about why Rory left town is out in the open, and poor Tim. He really has himself convinced that Rory never loved him.
> 
> But Samantha is dead, who do you think killed her? And do you think they will come back? it's safe to say that Rory has pissed off a lot of people so it could be anyone really.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

For the next week, Rory stayed in the cell in the Batcave. Even with the revelation of why she left, not everyone trusted her fully again and Rory knew that it was going to be a long road to fix that. She wasn't exactly a prisoner in the cave anymore, not like she was before and she could come and go from her cell as she pleased as long as she did not break any of the rules.

Rory spent most of her mornings working out, usually by herself but with Dick staying in Gotham for a while he joined her more often than not. It seemed that he was the first one to trust her more, Rory could see that he was less guarded around her unlike before when they met each other in Bludhaven. 

Most of the time it was them messing around, Dick trying to make her feel more comfortable being back in Wayne Manor.

Other times, Jason joined her. She could still kick his ass like before but this time it was in record time, and he could not hide the fact that he missed her. Their friendship had been put to the test this last year, with Rory going off-grid and Jason finding out that she was the assassin they were trying to hunt down. Jason was just glad that he did not have to hide it from Roy, who did not take the news very well.

Tim was another story, he was the acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises and his days were always busy compared to what they were like a year ago. It seemed that he was always working, but that could also be the fact that he was avoiding her. It didn't take a genius to figure out that there was thick tension around Rory and Tim. Everyone could feel it.

Rory was currently working with a punching bag, she had headphones in her ears as sweat dripped down her face. Her hands were gripped tightly as she landed punch after punch on the bag, making it swing around. While she was gone, Rory had amassed even more strength than she had before, all she did was train and it was visible.

The thoughts going through her head were ones she tried to get rid of, almost all of them about a certain black-haired, blue-eyed boy that was currently at work. Rory missed him like crazy, but any chance she had of getting him back was next to nothing. The way she left things was not something a normal person could just walk away from. 

There was also the fact that she had assassins after her, very deadly ones at that. One of them trained her. one of them almost killed her in the past, one was considered the most dangerous woman alive with Cheshire considered one of the best assassins to come out of the League. How was she going to continue her mission with Batman, and the League following her every move? 

Rory had limited options, she knew for a fact that if she killed again Bruce would have to officially arrest her but that was something she did not to make him do. She had to find a better way of stopping the League, but Rory had no idea where to start. 

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, punching the bag that Rory did not hear another person walk into the room. Every hit she landed on it got harder and harder to the point she was going to break her hands if she wasn't stopped. 

Tim had walked in and saw her punching the bag and could tell that she was lost in her thoughts, they might not be together anymore but he knew that when Rory got lost in her thoughts like this it wasn't good. Slowly, he approached her from behind and tapped her shoulder.

Rory turned on her heel and went to punch whoever it was, only for Tim to catch her fist and raise a brow at her. "Everything okay?" he asked softly, not loosening the grip he had on her first.

Pulling her hand back, Rory gave him a hard look. "I'm just fine, what do you want?" she snapped. "It's not like you have been avoiding me or anything." 

Tim winced at her words and looked at the floor. "I guess I just didn't know what to say."

"Timothy Drake, the guy who never shuts up at a loss for words? I must be scarier than I thought." Rory grinned, adjusting the gloves on her hands.

Huffing a laugh, Tim's eyes left the floor and took in her appearance. Her whole body seemed tense, it was obvious she was bothered by something. But was it his place to ask her about it? They weren't together, let alone friends really anymore and it was painfully obvious in the way that he couldn't hold eye contact with her. It was like Tim was scared of what he would see in her eyes, hoping that there would be some sort of affection for him in her beautiful, warm eyes but he knew that she held no such feelings for him.

When Rory first told him that she wasn't the same girl he knew as a kid, Tim refused to believe her. But looking back, he should have. Maybe it would have saved him the heartbreak of it all. 

"Things weren't exactly great when you left," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Tim, please don't ask me questions you don't want the answer to." she cut him off quickly. Rory was not ready for this conversation, hell she may never be ready for the conversation and maybe she preferred it that way. 

He took a deep breath and stepped back from her. "We were friends once upon a time, I can tell when something is bothering you," Tim spoke after a bit. 

Rory's eyes softened at the sight of him, it was hurting him just being that close to her unable to show any sign of affection because he thought she didn't want it, but he couldn't be more wrong. With a sigh, Rory took off the gloves and tossed them to the ground.

"You're right, something is bothering me. I have four high ranking assassins after me and can not leave the cave because they will kill me the second I show my face. Malcolm said Gotham was probably the safest place for me, so I'll take what I'm given." she answered, taking a drink from her water.

"What if you got out of Gotham?" he asked, looking around the cave.

"I would be impressed for sure, but you can't. They know I'm here and will hunt me across the world if I left. Not to mention all the people who would like to bring me to justice, if I set foot in the wrong city I could be met with worse consequences." Rory answered, crossing her arms.

"What if you were with another group of people that isn't in Gotham?" he asked.

Rory let out a frustrated groan. "Just spit it out and stop beating around the bush Timothy!" she snapped.

"Hey! Don't you snap at me, I am only trying to help you!" he snapped back. "Considering our recent history, I should be the last person to offer you help so you either take it or you can enjoy your cell." 

"Don't you fucking yell at me Timothy Drake!" she shouted poking his chest. "I didn't want to be in this shithole of a city, to begin with. The only reason I was in town, ended up dead!"

"Like it wasn't you who killed her!" he scoffed, narrowing his eyes at her.

Above in the mansion, the others had heard the shouting and quickly went down to the cave to make sure that no one ended up dead. Dick and Jason had just managed to make it down as Tim said those final words and Rory looked ready to kill. 

She let out a snarl as she advanced on him, a dangerous look in her eyes. "Yes, because that is all I am to you. A killer, a murderer. Weren't you the one to tell me I was more than that, that I was meant to be more?" she threatened.

Tim stood his ground, not daring to give Rory that edge on him. "It's like you said, I was just someone to fuck while you were in town. All you are is a cold-hearted killer and nothing is going to change that." 

Rory froze at his words, he threw what she had said to him back in her face. He had meant every word he said, she could tell. There was a determined look in his eyes as they stared each other down, Jason and Dick drowning in the silence between them. Tim hated her, he despised her and Rory could do nothing to fix it. There was no way they were going back to what they were before. 

"How was I such an idiot, to believe that you, out of all people, could ever love me?" he said softly. 

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could she say to him? This was her fault, no one else was to blame but her. Rory wanted to tell him that she loved him, she still did after all this time but it would do more harm than good to admit that she lied to him and broke his heart to protect him. 

"What, run out of lies to tell?" he scoffed and left the ring, walking past Dick and Jason who stood there in shock at what they witnessed.

Rory was frozen in her spot still, her fists clenched. She had really messed up this time, how was she ever going to get Tim to forgive her? Maybe it was best she left town, Samantha was dead and there was no need for her to be in Gotham anymore. But she had just gotten them all back, what kind of person was she to leave the people she trusted with her life when there were at least four highly dangerous assassins out to get her? 

The anger bubbled inside her as she gritted her teeth, turning on her heel and sending another punch into the bag and jumping back in shock as it finally busted a seem and the filling started to spill all over the floor. On top of everything, it seemed that she owed Bruce a new bag. 

With a loud groan, she jumped out of the ring and walked over to the closet that held various items. She was so lost in her anger that she didn't hear footsteps approach her from behind, nearly jumping out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Quickly, she ducked and sent a kick only for her foot to be caught by Jason who stood there and gave her a look. "What the hell just happened?" 

Rory scoffed and pulled her foot out of his hold. "Why the fuck do you care?" she snapped. "Didn't you tell me a couple of days ago that you wanted me out of Gotham once the whole thing with Samantha was over?" 

Jason's face fell a little, quickly replaced by the stone expression he wore often. "So what if I did, I've never seen you punch open a bag before." he countered, crossing his arms and blocking her path.

"Bags wear out genius, this isn't the first bag I've punched a hole in one." she shoved past him with the broom and duct tape to clean up her mess. 

Jason followed her back to the ring, Dick was gone. Probably to go try and talk to Tim and convince him to apologize. But Rory didn't deserve an apology, if anyone did it was Tim. It was her fault he was this way to begin with.

"I heard what he said to you, and like it or not I saw how you reacted. You may be good at hiding your emotions, but you aren't good enough to fool me, Princess."

Rory stopped sweeping, her heart lurching at the nickname he used to call her. "What are you talking about Jason," she grumbled, getting back to cleaning it up before taping the bag back together. 

Jason rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You are just as stubborn as before, if not more so. Even an idiot could see the torch you're still carrying, Tim just happens to be dumber than an idiot because he can't."

"There is nothing left for us, he hates me and I deserve it." 

"But you didn't deny it." he grinned ever so slightly.

If looks could kill, Jason would be dead again but ten times over. "What I feel doesn't matter anymore, not after what I said to him. Words like that aren't easily forgiven Jason, you would know that. You've said some of them yourself." 

"Yeah, I would know that's why I am telling you to pull your head out of your ass and just talk to him. Try and get on better grounding. He may be an idiot, but I don't want my brother to miss out on the best thing to ever happen to him because the two of you are stubborn assholes." 

"Wow, that was almost a compliment, Did you get hit on the head or something?" Rory threw the sand away and took the bag off the hook and put it away. 

"Would you stop being so sarcastic and just listen to me?" he asked, following her.

"Would you stop following me, trying to get me to listen to you? It's over between me and Tim, we can't even be friends anymore because of me. I lost the people I trusted the most because I wanted to keep them safe. Oliver and Dinah probably think I'm dead." As the last sentence left her lips, all the emotions she was feeling spilled out. Rory tried to choke back the sobs, but the thought of Oliver and Dinah worrying over her like crazy hurt her the most. Those two along with Roy were her family, and she treated them like shit.

Jason let out a sigh and pulled Rory close as she cried into his chest. "Maybe you should start there, at least let them know you're okay." 

"But I'm not okay Jason." she sobbed. "Nothing about me is okay! I failed them, this isn't what they wanted for me. Oli would be so disappointed in me once he learns what I've done, I can't do that to him." 

Rubbing her back as he held her close, Jason looked down at the girl in front of him. "Maybe that's where you should start, telling Oliver, Dinah, and Roy the truth. You said so yourself, they're your family but I doubt they would be disappointed in you Rory. I don't think they ever could be no matter what you did because they love you." 

Rory wiped her eyes and looked up at him, "When did you get so smart?" she chuckled softly pulling out of the hug. 

"I've always been smart, everyone else is just an idiot and doesn't listen to me at all." Jason laughed and pulled out his phone and handed it to her. "Call Roy first, he already knows half the story so how hard could it be?" 

Taking the phone from him, Rory stared at Roy's contact and took a deep breath. If she was ever going to fix herself and get her life back on track, this was a good place to start. Her thumb hit the call button and held the phone to her ear as she listened to it ring.

_"Hey Jay, what's up?"_

"Hey..." she muttered into the phone. "It's me." 

It sounded as if Roy almost dropped the phone and there was a small clatter from his end before he finally spoke again. 

_"Rory? Holy fuck, what the hell are you doing with Jason's phone? Are you okay? Is he okay?"_

Rory laughed lightly at his worry, even after a year apart he was still Roy Harper. "I'm back in Gotham and everyone is okay," she answered.

_"Why are you back in Gotham? Did something happen? Does anyone else know you're Ghost?"_

"You never stop asking questions do you?" she chuckled softly, feeling a massive weight lift off her shoulders at the familiar feeling of talking to the one person who knew her best. "There's a lot going on but everyone here knows." 

Her playful attitude changed quickly as she remembered the reason she had called in the first place. "Roy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything, for disappearing, for not telling you, for breaking literally every rule in the book. I just wanted to keep you safe." she said softly, looking at the ground as she shuffled her feet. 

_Roy let out a sigh, "Rory, you went off the grid. None of us knew where you were let alone if you were even alive. You scared the shit out of us, what's going on?"_

She stood there quietly, trying to find the words. What Rory really needed was Roy with her, he could always tell what she was thinking just by looking at her. It was a habit he had picked up over the years and Rory could tell that he used it on Jason regularly and even on Jesse before he died.

That first year after Jesse died, it was one of the hardest times of Roy's life. He had lost someone he loved, and even though he looked okay that did not mean he was okay deep down. When Jesse died, it was like something in him broke, and the two people who saw it were Rory and Jason. Roy went down a dark path, one that the two of them almost didn't bring him back from. 

Addiction was not an easy thing to get over, Rory had gone as far as going back to Star City to stay with him while she helped him through withdrawals and rehab. Jason was around as much as he could be during that time, he had lost one friend already and was not ready to lose another.

When Rory left Gotham to become Ghost, she tried not to think about what had happened to Roy and the others because it hurt less. Ripping Tim's heart out was one thing, and it almost killed her to do that, but she couldn't do it to Roy. He was the one person who understood her the best, and maybe he could help her get back on track.

Taking a deep breath Rory huffed a laugh. "You know the usual, people are trying to kill me."

_Roy laughed at her words, "When isn't someone trying to kill you? I'll be on the first flight down to Gotham, don't you even fucking think about leaving before I get there Aurora Queen or I will kick your ass." he threatened._

Rory laughed, running a hand through her hair. "This is the safest place for me right now, I promise I am not going anywhere."

_"Have you talked to Oli or Dinah yet?" Roy listened for an answer, taking the hint when Rory went silent._

_"You need to call them Twinkle-Toes, they need to know you are okay," he said._

Rory took a deep breath. "I know, that's my next objective. Stay safe and I'll see you when you get here okay?" she asked.

_"You got it Twinkle-Toes. Now behave until I get there."_

She let out a laugh. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you to behave?" she chuckled. 

_Roy laughed and shook his head. "Maybe, who knows? I'll see you soon, love you, Rory."_

"Love you too Roy." And with that she hung up, Jason watching her with crossed arms and a smirk on his face. 

"That wasn't so hard was it?" he grinned. 

"Fuck you, Princess." she grinned and dialed Oliver and Dinah. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this got a little intense for a minute there. Rory and Tim are going to be at each other's throats for a while before things start to lighten up. What she said is not easily forgivable, even if she said it to protect him in her own twisted way. But talking to Roy was a step in the right direction so we are getting there!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Rory sat on the bench in the cave as her foot tapped against the rock floor, the sounds echoing across the floor. She was waiting for Oliver to arrive, Dinah had stayed behind in Star City to watch over it while he came to see her. 

She didn't regret calling them and telling them, but Rory knew what she was in for it when Oliver arrived. Roy had gotten there the day before and the first words out of his mouth were "What the fuck were you thinking?"

Roy was currently the only other one in the cave with her, Bruce and Tim were at WE for the day with Jason off doing who knows what while Damian was at school and Duke was upstairs with Dick, Steph, and Cass. Barbara was with her dad for the afternoon and that left Rory and Roy alone to welcome Oliver. 

Just one look at her and Roy could see that she was nervous as hell. Kneeling in front of her, Roy placed a hand on her knee to make her stop bouncing. "You need to calm down Twinkle-Toes, everything will be alright." 

Rory looked at him, she could see the dark circles under his eyes, and he looked worse for wear since she had seen him last in Bludhaven. His hair was longer, and he looked thinner. Rory secretly hoped that he didn't fall back into those bad habits again, it was something she was going to have to ask about later. 

"What if he decides to disown me, Roy? I broke every rule he had set, along with his trust. I don't blame him if he even fires me from the vigilante life because I deserve it." she muttered. 

Roy made her look at him and gave her a look. "After everything that has happened, Oliver would not disown you. If that was on his agenda, he would have done it years ago Rory. He wouldn't leave you, not when you need him." 

She let out a sigh and looked at her hands. "I guess you're right. I just... I just don't want to disappoint him."

"You could never do that even if you tried." 

Both Rory and Roy turned and saw Oliver at the bottom of the stairs, his beard was longer than she had seen it last and his blonde hair was slowly going gray with age. Before she could even say another word, Rory got to her feet and ran full speed at Oliver who pulled her into a hug.

She held onto him so tight that Oliver was scared she was going to suffocate him, but that didn't stop him from holding his daughter close to him refusing to let go. Looking at her, Oliver almost didn't recognize her. Rory's hair was still the dark ebony color and thought that it was someone else before he heard her speak. 

"You could never disappoint me, sweetheart," he muttered into her hair as Rory tried to hold back the tears.

It didn't occur to her just how much she missed him, it had been over a year since she had seen him. The last time she saw Oliver was the Christmas before she left and that was six months before.

"I'm so sorry Oli, I messed up big time." she whimpered, gripping the back of his shirt tightly. 

Picking her up into his arms, Oliver carried her over to where Roy was still sitting and held her tightly as he took a seat next to Roy. "Tell me everything Kiddo, I'm not going anywhere."

Rory curled up, wiping the tears from her cheeks, and stayed still. "I pissed off the League of Assassins, and now they want me dead." 

"How did you manage to piss off the entire League?" 

Roy huffed a laugh. "Oliver, did you forget who you are talking to? Rory can piss off anyone if she tried hard enough."

"Not helping Roy," Oliver said looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

Rory chuckled softly, "But he has a point, if I was a meta that would be my power. Pissing people off." 

Oliver rolled his eyes and looked down at her, Rory was calmer than she was a few minutes ago but she still looked upset. "Talk to me, what's on your mind?" he asked.

"It's everything, I messed up everything good I had because I wanted to keep everyone safe from the League. If I refused and stayed around, they would have gone after one of you and I couldn't let that happen. So I disappeared, the world thought Aurora Queen was dead and the League did too for a while until about two months ago. They sent Merlyn, Slade, I have yet to see Lady Shiva, and Cheshire." Rory explained and looked over at Roy. "She said hi, by the way, you know after she stabbed me with her sword." 

Roy's face flushed as he glared at her, his relationship with Cheshire had been a shifty one. They trusted each other, but then they didn't at the same time. How could he be with someone who cared, but didn't care? 

"I never thought you were dead and neither did Dinah, we knew what you were doing the entire time," Oliver said, making both of his adopted kids look at him. "We knew you were Ghost from the moment we saw the footage from Bruce, and we aren't mad," he explained.

Rory's breath caught in her throat at his words, getting up and running a hand through her hair. What did that mean? How long has he known it was her, and why the hell didn't he stop her? She had managed to fool the whole world except Malcolm, Oliver, and Dinah. They were the people who trained her into what she had become of course they would recognize her. Malcolm turned her into a weapon and Oliver and Dinah helped her come back from it, maybe this time they could help her come back from it this time. 

Turning to look at Oliver, she took a deep breath. "If you knew, why didn't you stop me?" she asked. "You saw what I had become, so why didn't you come and stop me from going down that path?" Her voice had turned into a whisper as she talked, scared of what his response would be. 

"I couldn't stop you any more than I could stop Roy from making decisions. If there is one thing I raised you both to be, it's to be independent. I wanted the two of you to be able to make your own choices and act on what you thought was best." Oliver looked at Roy before he looked at Rory, "Even if I wanted to stop you, I knew that you wouldn't listen to me no matter how hard I tried. I could be blue in the face and you would refuse to listen to me."

Hearing what he said, Rory knew he was right. She had convinced herself that she was right, that it was the only way to stop the League and keep everyone she loved safe, but what if there was another way? Could she leave the life of an assassin behind, and go back to who she was before all of this started? Could she even get Tim back, and keep the promises they made to each other?

"I know there is more on your mind, what's really got you down?" Oliver asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. 

Rory knew what he was getting at, it was obvious that something had been on her mind since Tim said those words to her the other day. Without even knowing it, Tim had broken her heart but she deserved it for all that she did to him. Tim was the most important person in the world to her, but there was a slim chance that they could ever be what they were again.

"Just because you two and Dinah forgave me, it doesn't mean that others will as well," she said softly. 

"You mean Tim?" Oliver asked. 

Rory's silence answered the question for him of course it was Tim that was on her mind. Ever since they came back into each other's lives three years ago, he had been the only thing that was ever on her mind. When Oliver visited on her birthday her first year in Gotham, he could see then how they felt about each other and was not surprised to hear that they had started dating.

Watching them over the next few years, Oliver saw them fall more and more in love to the point he thought that they were going to take that next step in their relationship. But then Rory disappeared without a trace. Feelings like that don't just go away, no matter how hard you tried. 

"Have you asked him to forgive you yet?" Oliver asked.

"He refuses to even stand in the same room as me, you really think he will forgive me Oli? What I did was unforgivable, I said awful things to him because I knew he would follow me. Tim is so much more important than I am, he has WE and his life here in Gotham. If I gave him the chance, he would have packed everything up and followed me across the world and abandon everything here." she explained.

"But that doesn't mean he still doesn't care for you." Roy tried. 

"He'd be an idiot for doing so, Tim is better off without me." she answered quickly, "and I am nothing more than a cold-hearted assassin to them. I am not worthy of their forgiveness." 

Roy crossed his arms and huffed a laugh. "You really are an idiot Twinkle-Toes, some of them already have forgiven you." 

Turning to look at him, Rory narrowed her eyes. "You didn't see their face when I came back to town, Jason said he wanted me out of this city the first chance I got. The second the coast is clear, I'm gone. Dick only tolerates me because he is too nice to throw me out on the street only to be killed by a group of assassins." 

"That's funny because all I've heard is the good things you've done since you've gotten here." Roy countered. 

"I have not done anything good, Roy! What aren't you understanding about this!?" she cried.

Roy got to his feet and looked down at the girl he considered a sister. "You are the one who isn't understanding Aurora! If none of them trusted you, or even forgave you why are you here and not in Belle Reve? Bruce has had every chance to throw you in prison, as have the others. So why haven't they?" he asked, his voice rising in volume with each sentence. 

Rory stared up at him in silence at a loss for words, he was right. They had every right and opportunity to throw her in prison so why was she still in the cave?

"Because just like with us you're family and Bruce and I protect our family," Oliver said getting to his feet. 

Rory could no longer fight the tears, everything they had said made sense. Ever since she arrived back in Gotham, Rory had been holding onto that fear that they hated her because it was easier than accepting the fact that they could still care for her even after all she did to them. If she was in their place, Rory would have forgiven any of them in a heartbeat because they were safe and alive. 

Oliver and Roy pulled her into another hug, keeping her close to their chests. "No matter what you do, you're family and we take care of our family."

After Rory calmed down from their talk and washed any trace of tears off her face Bruce appeared in the cave once more and sat with the three of them talking about what the best course of action to take was. There were currently four assassins in Gotham after Rory and they all knew that they would stop at nothing to accomplish their mission. 

A popular theory was to have Rory come back into the spotlight through Queen Consolidated, but Rory shot that down quickly. Even if she led the high profile life again, they would still come after her. Roy thought of possibly fighting them off to make them concede and leave on their own accord, but even he knew that was a far fetched idea.

Rory thought about what Tim had been trying to tell her the other day during the last time they spoke. She regretted snapping at him, and not letting him speak but she was in a bad mood and only made the situation worse. With a deep breath, she voiced her thoughts.

"Tim was trying to tell me something the other day, about smuggling me out of the city. I never let him finish and we are currently not talking to each other, but he might have been onto something there," she explained.

Bruce looked over at her and nodded, "He did mention a place you could go and hide until we find a way to take care of this."

"There's not many places four assassins can't get into. I mean, I highly doubt they would all work together to get to her. Where exactly could she go?" Oliver asked.

"Tim's idea was taking her with him to Jump City. There's enough of them there that it would cause a deterrent on attacking her and possibly give us enough time to get things taken care of here." Bruce explained.

Roy and Rory both looked at each other, years ago he was part of the Titans based in Jump City along with Dick, Wally, Donna, and several other of their friends. It was because of this, Rory had actually met Donna and Wally. But now it was run by Tim and the team consists of him, Conner, Cassandra Sandsmark, Bart Allen, and Althea Einar. 

Rory and Conner were great friends before she broke Tim's heart at least, and she had met Bart and Cassie officially last year when they popped in for a visit. The only one she had not met was Althea, who was Zatanna's cousin and her protege. 

"That's not exactly a bad idea," Rory started. "Tim and I, when we aren't screaming at each other, are a good team in itself and can keep them at bay but adding them and their skills could keep them off my ass for a little while."

"And since it's in the same state anyway, Dinah and I can pop in every so often and check on them and assist if they need it," Oliver mentioned, looking at Roy. "And I know he wouldn't mind visiting every so often either." 

Rory looked between the three of them, trying to see if anyone was going to object. It didn't take long to notice that they were all on board with the plan, but that only left one more thing to do. "Someone's gotta tell Tim and the others that I'm coming," Rory said, crossing her arms.

"I can take care of that, you focus on packing. We'll figure a way to get you out of town soon." Bruce said.

"Better you than me old man, now if you'll excuse me I have one bag total to pack and an escape from Gotham to plan." she grinned and walked off towards the cell that held her bag. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is on the shorter side and more filler than not, but I wanted to write her talking to Oliver and Roy again because they are some of the most important people in her life. Also, she is going to Jump City to hang with the Titans! That is going to be exciting for sure, I have lovely things planned for that. 
> 
> I am at a loss on what to do next for this fic until I get where I want. If any of you have anything you want to possibly see happen in this book (other than Tim and Rory getting back together), let me know! Maybe it could spark some inspiration!


	16. Chapter Fifteen

_"I'll be back later tonight Dragon Boy, I just want to pick up a few groceries for dinner before we go out tonight," Rory called, pulling her shoes on by the front door._

_"Alright Songbird," he smiled from his spot at the kitchen table. Tim was on his second cup of coffee of the morning and was getting ready to head into Wayne Enterprises. He was dressed in his regular business suit without the jacket with his shaggy black hair a mess upon his head. No matter how tired Tim was, or the lack of sleep he got in a night his eyes always shined that deep blue Rory had fallen in love with._

_Rory had just gotten her shoes on and threw her purse on her shoulder when he got up from his seat and walked over to where she was standing. He took her waist and pulled her against his chest with a glimmer of something in his eyes._

_"Maybe we'll get a few moments to ourselves before patrol?" he asked tracing circles on her hip with his thumb._

_Rory gave him a sly smile, "If you manage to pull yourself away from your work long enough." she teased._

_Tim let out a huff and took her chin in his hand, tilting her head to look up at him. "You could just come and visit me at the office instead." His thumb brushed her bottom lip, Rory parting her lips slightly at his touch._

_"You and I both know that you won't get any work done if I visit you. Besides, I think your poor secretary has been scarred enough we don't need to traumatize her for life." she giggled._

_Tim's laughter was music to her ears, she loved to hear it almost as much as she loved the thought of being the person to make him laugh every day. Getting on her toes, Rory leaned up and pressed her lips against his softly with Tim's grip still on her waist and chin._

_It was so easy to get lost in his kiss, the way his lips molded against hers perfectly had Rory weak in the knees every time she kissed. It felt like she was floating on air, and it had been like that since their first kiss all those years ago._

_Just like it was easy for Rory to get lost in his kiss, Tim lost himself in Rory as well. He couldn't get her out of his mind no matter what he did. Deep down he knew he shouldn't be mentally thanking Ivy, but if it wasn't for the kiss she gave Rory he might have never kissed Rory at all._

_He pulled her closer to him, his hand sliding from her waist until it was placed firmly over her ass, and gave it a light squeeze. Rory squirmed in his arms with a giggle, and slowly pulled away from the kiss. "You think you're so sneaky, don't you? Thinking you can convince me to stay just a little bit longer?" she asked._

_Tim brushed the loose hair out of her face as he stared into her warm gaze, the way the light reflected off the hues of her eyes made him fall in love with her all over again. He loved the color of her eyes and always had. Even from the time they were kids, he remembered her vivid gaze as they played together._

_"It was worth a shot though right?" he grinned, pecking her lips one last time as he let her go._

_Rory rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek, "Focus on work and we shall see what happens tonight." she chuckled and grabbed her set of keys._

_Before she could open the door, Tim ran forward and grabbed her hand. "I love you, Rory, stay safe." he smiled and left a lingering kiss on her lips._

_Blinking slowly, Rory smiled at him and placed a kiss on his hand. "I love you too Timothy, I'll see you later tonight." and with that, she was out the door._

Rory woke with a start and looked around, she hadn't noticed she was asleep. She didn't even remember falling asleep, let alone curling up with the blanket that was not there before. Sitting up slowly, she took a look around the library and saw that the sun was beginning to set as well. 

She had gone to the library to find an old book, but it seemed that the second she sat down to read Rory seemed to have fallen asleep reading. it had been a long time since she had sat on something this soft, let alone sleep on it. But there were a million questions running through her head. 

Who had seen her, who had covered her with the blanket, and how long did they stick around? 

The last question concerned Rory the most, her dream was a memory while she slept and it was a known fact that she had a habit of talking in her sleep. She just hoped that she didn't mention anything that gave away what she was dreaming. 

Running a hand through her hair, Rory thought back on that day. It was the morning before she left Tim, while she was at the store someone from the League of Assassins had pulled her into an abandoned building and gave her the ultimatum that changed her life; and not in a good way. 

Little did she know, someone was in the library with her. But he was hidden among the shelves and hadn't expected Rory to wake up while he was still around. 

Tim stood quietly, watching Rory through a small hole between the books. They weren't on the best of terms these days, but Rory was a part of him no matter how much he wanted to change that. There would always be a part of his heart devoted to her, no matter how much they fought. From the very beginning, Tim knew Rory was the love of his life. 

When he entered the room, he hadn't even expected to see her there let alone asleep. He had half a mind to leave her alone when he heard her mumble his name in her sleep. That had caught her attention enough to make him want to stay a bit longer. But other than that, she hadn't uttered another word. 

Tim had no intention of staying, but before he knew it a couple of hours had passed and he was watching her sleep. The change he had seen compared to the year before and this moment was immaculate. She was so carefree and happy a year ago, they were in love and he had been seriously thinking of taking that next step when she left him. 

But looking at her now, Rory almost looked dead. Her skin had lost color, with her eyes and cheeks hollow and sunken in. There were bags under her eyes, and she was covered in even more scars than before. He had noticed she had gotten cold while she slept so he draped one of the blankets across her body before browsing through the books to see which ones he wanted to take back to Jump City with him. 

For the last few days, they had been planning on how to get Rory out of the city and across the country to Titans Tower. Bruce had explained Tim's idea to her and she agreed to it with almost no fight. Oliver wanted to stick around a little longer before heading back to Star City, but Dinah needed him more. He promised that he would visit her in Jump City once she got settled.

Roy went back as well, he had left Lian in Dinah's care and wanted to get back to his daughter as quick as he could. 

It still baffled him that Roy had a daughter, with someone who had recently tried to kill Rory. If anyone ever tried to tell him that their lives were simple, they would have to be insane. Nothing about the Wayne Family let alone the Queen Family was sane, let alone normal. 

Tim shifted where he stood and saw Rory straighten up, and look in his direction. 

"Who's there," she demanded.

Tim didn't say anything, he hoped that if he stayed still long enough she would ignore him and brush it off. But he had forgotten just how good she was, Rory knew the entire time someone was in the room with her she just didn't know where until that moment.

"I don't care who you are, if you don't show your face I'll be sure to kick it in." she threatened, tossing the blanket off her body and rising to her feet. 

"So what would you have done if I was Alfred?" he asked, stepping out from behind the shelf.

Rory let out the breath she didn't know she was holding, she knew the odds of someone sneaking in to kill her were very slim but the possibility was there none the less. She chuckled at his words and shook her head.

"Alfred knows better than to sneak around a known assassin," she answered crossing her arms, her eyes darting to all the exits of the room from the windows to every door.

Tim didn't miss the shift of her eyes, he knew that look. It was one she wore every day for the first year she stayed in Gotham. Slade was out to kill her and it rattled Rory to her core, and it was alarming to see just how shaken Rory was about their current situation. 

He took a few steps forward, holding the books he picked up, and tilted his head. "You know that you're safe here right?" he asked softly, his gaze softening the more he truly looked at her. No matter what he tried, Tim could not hate her. SO he took to the next best thing, loving her from afar and not saying a word about it.

Rory's eyes settled on his once more, but her body didn't relax. She was still on edge, and there wasn't much she could do to ease the tension. 

"I know that, but there's a part of me that needs to catch up with that memo." she chuckled weakly. 

"The part of you that's been on the run for the last year." he elaborated. 

Rory gave him a nod and sat back down on the couch and let out a sigh. "I keep thinking that I need to constantly check over my shoulder, awaiting the inevitable knife to twist its way in when I am not looking," she explained. "Living like that for a year creates a lot of habits that are going to be hard to break."

Tim bit his lip and stood there quietly, he wanted nothing more than to walk over and comfort Rory but he couldn't. It wasn't his place, not even as her friend let alone her boyfriend. It hurt him to see her like this, he missed how carefree Rory used to be and the constant smile that was always present on her face no matter what the situation was.

Rory and Tim knew each other inside and out, yet they were complete strangers.

"Maybe hanging out with Conner and the others will help you break those habits, with four others watching your back you won't have to do it yourself." 

Rory gave Tim a small smile, "Yeah, maybe it will. We'll find out in a few days. But until then, we have patrol, we should probably head down to the cave before Bruce goes hunting for our heads." she joked.

Tim laughed, "We are grown adults Rory, he can't really make us do anything." he said as the two of them left the library. 

Rory walked with him, her hands not leaving her pockets. The temptation to grab his hand was too great to let them swing free on their own. There was no guarantee that Rory wouldn't brush her hand against his on purpose, only to make him feel worse. 

"Batman may not kill, but that does not mean he isn't terrifying still," she replied, looking around once more.

"I thought Batman didn't scare you."

"He doesn't, but I don't want to disappoint him or Oli. I've done that enough this last year, I don't want to do it anymore." Rory watched as Tim opened the secret passage to the cave and they both walked down the steps quietly, voices floating up the stairs to where they were walking.

"Damian just kill it already!" 

"Would you stop being dramatic about this?" 

"Dramatic?! You're the one swinging the fucking thing around demon brat!" 

"I swear you two are the most dramatic people I have ever met." 

Rory and Tim were greeted with the sight of Dick curled around Jason's torso, holding on for dear life while Damian stood in front of them holding something out in his hand. Duke, Cass, and Steph were off to the side trying to hide their amusement.

Babs was by the computer with her arms crossed over her chest and shaking her head. "Damian, leave the two grown men alone and put the poor thing on the ground," she said with a chuckle. 

Getting closer, they saw that Damian was holding a rather large spider out on this palm and it seemed that Dick and Jason were not having it. Rory shuddered at the sight of the thing and unintentionally curled into Tim who chuckled.

"I forgot, you don't like spiders."

"How could you forget that? I made you take care of every single one of them!" she cried turning to look at him.

"Damian put the thing down!" Dick cried, clinging to Jason out of reach.

Damian let out a huff and set the spider on the floor. "You two are such children." 

Duke laughed at his words and watched the spider crawl away into the dark crevices of the cave. "You like torturing them as well Damian, admit it." 

"I'll never admit to such things Thomas." Damian had a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he shot a look at Duke who only laughed harder. 

Rory shook her head "I forgot just how crazy this family was." she chuckled and walked over to where her suit rested. It was on display in the corner with her weapons at its side, the red lenses boring into her soul. She knew it was a long shot, but Rory wanted to be out on patrol with the rest of them. Her recent confession about the League and how they were hunting her seemed to turn a new leaf on what they thought of her but there was still a sense of apprehension.

The person she felt it from the most was the one she wanted to fully trust her again, but Rory knew that it would never happen for as long as she lied to him about why she left. But if Tim knew the kind of danger being with her would bring to him, would he understand or try and argue his way into her heart again damning them with the consequences.

"Rory, suit up."

Turning on her heel, Rory saw Bruce behind her and looked up at him. "Where am I going today boss?" she asked. 

"We may not be able to sneak you out of the city yet, but you can still help around here. Since it was you and Dick that witnessed what happened with Samantha, I am sending you both back to see if you can find more evidence. Jason and Tim will be nearby in case you need assistance." Bruce explained looking around.

"Duke will remain here and keep an eye on things with Alfred, Cassandra along with Barbara will continue their normal patrol routes while Damian and I will look around to see who is in Gotham hunting, Rory." He adjusted the gauntlets on his suit. "Does everyone understand?"

There was a chorus of agreements while everyone began to suit up. Rory stood by her suit and looked it over once more. She missed being White Arrow so much, the feeling of firing arrows was soothing to her and it helped keep her emotions steady. With a sigh, she pulled the suit down and walked off to change. 

It didn't take long for her to get suited up and when she walked out, Rory was met with Dick waiting for her by the bikes where she saw her own there parked next to Dick's. He was leaning against the side of his own with his arms crossed while he talked to Tim in hushed whispers, probably about her no doubt. 

Her suspicions were only confirmed when they saw her walking over before they quickly changed subjects. Tim turned to face her as he fixed the mask that rested on his face and turned to Dick who only smiled once he saw her.

"Look what we pulled out of the garage." he teased, nodding towards her bike.

Rory ran a hand over the sleek white design, her fingers sliding over it with no problem. She had her bike repainted to match her White Arrow suit, wanting to stick with the theme. Gotham needed a little more color and Rory provided that. But it wasn't just her now either, Duke wore a yellow suit and patrolled mostly during the day. Besides him and Rory, everyone else wore darker colors.

"I can't tell you how much I missed this bike." she smiled softly and looked up at Dick and Tim. "Thanks, guys."

Dick patted her on the shoulder and climbed onto his own. "Ready when you are Ghostie." he grinned.

Rory gave Dick an unamused expression as she climbed onto her own, not missing the chuckle that left Tim's lips. "You call me that again, your bike will come back without you." she grinned and revved up her bike before taking off out of the cave and into the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got more insight into Rory and Tim and how they are handling things. They are really trying to make things work between them, but that won't happen until Rory is completely honest with Tim, and let's be real. That is not going to happen for a while.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Rory stayed quiet on the ride up the elevator. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she avoided Tim's gaze. The task of getting her out of Gotham had not been an easy one, it involved disguising her once more to even sneak her to a bus station so Rory and Tim could make a quick getaway to Metropolis so they could catch a flight to Jump City from there. 

Bruce had let Clark in on the fact that they were trying to get a friend out of Gotham while staying under the radar. Rory was internally grateful that he didn't just blab her secret to Clark, but part of her hated lying to him. Clark was one of the members of the Justice League who vouched for her and wanted her to join. By becoming Ghost, she betrayed his trust in judgment on who she was and Rory wasn't ready to face him again.

Tim looked over at her and he could see from first glance that she was a little nervous. He wanted to reach out and put a hand on her arm to reassure her, but Tim also knew that she would punch him for it. When Rory was uncomfortable, she was not someone to be bugged unless you wanted to get your ass kicked. 

No matter what he did, his gaze lingered on her for moments at a time only to look away when she glanced towards him. Tim was tired of this back and forth game, he missed her more than anything. He wanted his best friend back, sure he had Conner and the others but Rory was different. She knew him better than anyone, he had let her see the darkest depths of himself and bared his soul to her. 

There had to be more to her situation, there had to be. Rory was a fighter, but she wasn't a killer; there had to be something she wasn't telling anyone. 

Tim was brought out of his thoughts when the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing the other members of his team and his best friends. 

Neither Tim nor Rory got a word out before they were tackled into a hug by a blur of red hair and pulled close. Looking at the person, they could clearly see that it was Bart who had gotten to them first. 

"Bart, come on get off of them! They haven't even gotten through the door yet!" a voice called from behind them. Before Rory and Tim knew it, Bart was picked up off his feet and put a few feet away from them. 

"Good to see you sunshine, still kicking ass?" Conner asked as he set Bart down.

"I don't know Wonder Boy, you still only half-invincible?" she teased with a grin.

Tim had to fight the smile forming on his face at the thought of Rory actually looking happy for once. 

"Come on Rory, you and I both know it takes a lot to keep me down." he grinned and wrapped his arms around her, pulling Rory into a tight hug while he lifted her off the ground.

Rory let out a laugh and tried to hug him back the best she could. "I missed you too." she chuckled as Conner set her on the floor. Rory reached to grab her suitcases and looked around. She had never actually been to Titans Tower before, but it looked exactly how Tim had described it to her. 

It had wide-open spaces with a TV, a kitchen and the rooms were down one hallway while the other had the briefing rooms. 

"So what do you think?" Tim asked, crossing his arms while he watched Rory.

"Well, it's nothing like the slums of Moscow but it'll do." she grinned, taking a look back at him. Rory didn't miss the flash of emotion in his eyes, she hadn't been very forthcoming with the conditions she lived in for the past year and it was easy to say that the slums of Moscow had been one of the worst places she went. 

Conner let out a laugh and ruffled her hair, Rory giving him a glare and swatting his hand. "DO you do anything useful or just sit around and be a nuisance all day?" 

Bart and Tim had to hide their amused laughter as Conner slumped a little and gave Rory a look. "Now that's just mean." 

"Did you expect anything else?" Rory grinned and turned to take off down the hall right as something flew past, almost knocking Rory off her feet. 

"Tim!" 

Looking to her left, Rory saw Tim tackled into a hug by a blur of blonde hair and irritation flashed through Rory's mind. Taking a deep breath, Rory crossed her arms and gave an unamused expression. 

"Good to see you too Cassie." Tim chuckled and hugged her back before she turned to look at Rory.

"Rory?" she asked. 

"Was there another master assassin coming to stay with you or something?" Rory asked, tilting her head at the Amazonian. "I must have missed the memo." 

"Alright, let's go snarky." Conner grabbed Rory by the shoulders and turned her around and started off. Grabbing her second suitcase he walked the two of them down the hall and away from the others. "Before you bite someone's head off," he mumbled once they were halfway down the hall. 

"I was not-" she started.

"Don't bother, I heard your heart rate pick up and could see how tense you were getting." he stopped at a door and pushed it open to let Rory see inside. "Tada, what do you think?" he asked.

Rory took a few steps in and smiled, it was a simple set up but it was bigger than any of the apartments or hotels she had stayed in recently. The bed looked soft and she had her own bathroom and everything. Turning back Conner was still in the doorway leaning against the wall.

"It's definitely an upgrade, thanks." she smiled softly.

Conner walked in and set the suitcase he was holding on the bed before turning his gaze to look at her. "Now, you wanna tell me why you suddenly got jealous?" he raised an eyebrow at the end of his question.

Rory's jaw dropped as she looked at him. "I am not jealous." she scoffed. 

Conner's face morphed into an unamused expression as he stared at her. "Oh yeah, totally not jealous at all," he said. "Like, it totally has nothing to do with Tim either right?"

Rory glared. "You know, I regret a lot of things but this conversation is quickly rising to the top of the list." she snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"Is one of those things leaving Tim?" he asked. 

Clenching her fists, Rory took a deep breath to try and quell her anger. "That has nothing to do with you."

"Oh but it has everything to do with me, Tim's my best friend. Who do you think helped him pick up the pieces you so graciously shattered? You broke his heart Rory, and now you're going to be sleeping three doors down from him. Haven't you thought about how that is going to affect him?"

Rory's jaw tightened, was this the reason why he dragged her down the hall? So he could yell at her for breaking Tim's heart? She knew how much of a terrible person she was, what she didn't need was a reminder from one of the few people she had trusted with her life. 

"You don't understand, it was something I had to do! You like Tim alive don't you? If I stayed with him he'd be dead and I would be better off dead along with him." she said, looking up at him. "Besides, he doesn't care about me anymore. Tim has made that very clear."

Conner's eyes flashed with confusion as he listened to what she said. What could Rory have possibly gotten herself into that had Tim's life at risk like that, and it was safe to say that he had no idea about it either or he would be working nonstop to keep Rory safe. How could she also truly not believe that Tim did not care for her?

The love Tim and Rory had only came around once in your life, and he could see plain as day that they both still cared but refused to admit it to the other person. Conner never grasped just how stubborn they both were until this moment and he was ready to knock their heads together and make them talk it out. 

But knowing both Tim and Rory, they would sit there and stare at each other before admitting that they were not as strong as they appeared.

He put his hand on his forehead and released a drawn-out sigh. "You really like to make things difficult don't you?" he asked.

Rory's face lightened as she let out a soft laugh. "You know me, it's not a normal day until I make everything harder than it should be." She then turned to open her suitcase and began to unpack her clothes into the various drawers.

Conner couldn't help but notice that Rory didn't have much packed with her, let alone personal possessions. The only item his eye caught was a mysterious little wooden box that Rory quickly tucked away out of sight. 

"Althea is making dinner, one of us will come and get you when it's time to eat yeah?" he asked, bumping her shoulder. 

Looking up at him, Rory gave a nod and shut the door once he was out of the room. Now that she was finally alone, Rory could take a moment to herself to figure out what she wanted to do. Taking a seat on her bed, Rory sunk down into the mattress with a surprised look. The bed was softer than she had first imagined, the last time she had slept on something this soft was when she still lived with Tim. 

Curling her knees up to her chest, it really sunk in the situation she had gotten herself into. The League of Assassins wanted her, and at this point, they were getting desperate. One of these days, Ra's is going to give the kill order and that will be a whole other problem for her to work out. 

She still hadn't told anyone the true reason the League was after her, or the full extent of the threat they had promised. Rory's mission was to stop the League and keep those she loved safe, and that was all they needed to know. 

Rory was brought out of her thoughts when there was a knock at her door, the door was slowly pushed open and Tim poked his head in. "Hey, the food's done. I was told to come and get you to eat."

Getting to her feet, Rory nodded and followed him. "Thanks." she smiled as they walked down the halls to the dining area. 

The walk was quiet, most moments between them were quiet these days. Rory didn't know what to say, and she didn't feel as if he actually wanted her to talk to him. If he did, Tim would have said something by now. 

They entered the dining hall and Rory's senses were filled with a very familiar scent, one that matched her favorite dish. But there was no way they Althea knew what it was, she had never told her. Right on cue, Althea stumbled out of the kitchen with her hair sticking out in places and her dark eyes filled with excitement.

"Rory, Tim! About time you two got here, I didn't want the food to get cold." she smiled. and took off her apron and began to pat down her hair. "I hope you don't mind, I made beef stroganoff. Tim told me it was your favorite, and I wanted you to feel welcome." 

Rory tried to fight the smile that grew on her face as she looked at the person beside her. After all this time, he remembered what her favorite food was and even thought to share it? She tried to keep the fluttering sensation in her stomach to a minimum, but she didn't miss the look Conner was giving both her and Tim or the fact that Tim had gone unnaturally still.

Before she got the chance to ask, Bart appeared and ushered Rory to an open seat. "Come on, I'm starving! Althea is the best cook here, so you have to sit and try it." He pushed her down onto it and sped over to his own seat, managing to sit down without knocking the chair over.

Tim was sat across from her and refused to actually look at Rory. What had suddenly changed his attitude? Conner nudged her side, making her look up at him not missing the cues he was trying to give for her and Tim to talk. 

Suddenly plates appeared in front of them and sure enough, filled with beef stroganoff. Rory looked to Althea and chuckled, "I keep forgetting you practice magic, and it takes me by surprise every time"

Althea took her seat next to Rory and smiled at her, "Don't worry I do to somedays. Zatanna always tells me not to rely too much on my magic abilities, and I guess that lesson sticks more often than not." 

"It smells amazing." Rory complimented and took a small bite of the food before letting out a heavenly sigh. The dish tasted even better than it smelled, no one had come close to Alfred's cooking but this was pretty damn good.

The six of them talked while they ate, Rory staying silent the whole time. This whole situation was awkward for her, how was she supposed to act around them? She had been friends with them all and so far it seemed that no one had any ill feelings towards her but were they acting because they were scared of her or were they threatened into being nice to her? 

Every single one of them had close ties to someone on the Justice League, people Rory was close with before she disappeared. How much of her situation did Tim tell them, and did they even know that she was Ghost?

Once her food was gone, Rory stood from the table ad began to clean the table and extra dishes. She felt like she was suffocating at the table, who would have thought that someone like her could feel so alone at a table full of people and it seemed that no one noticed she was there. Even when surrounded by people, Rory could still blend into the shadows like a ghost. 

Unknown to her though, it hadn't gone unnoticed how quiet she was. Both Conner and Tim saw that she was acting weird, and gave each other a look before Conner motioned for him to follow Rory and try and talk to her.

Letting out a sigh, Tim stood from his seat and followed Rory into the kitchen and leaning against the doorway watching as she washed the dishes and zoning out in the process. Rory must have been deep in thought if she hadn't noticed him walk in, it was hard to sneak up on her especially these days. He cleared his throat to announce his presence

Rory's figure stiffened and she quickly turned to see Tim there watching her with a brow raised. "What do you want?" she asked quietly.

Tim just shrugged, "I noticed that you were quiet and just wanted to see if everything was okay." he answered simply, walking closer towards her with his plate to help her wash.

"I'm not plotting any murders if that's what you're worried about." she joked, sending him a soft smile. "Just doing a lot of thinking."

"Thinking about what?" he asked, grabbing plates and drying them. 

Could Rory be honest with him? There was a time when she could tell Tim everything, but she had lost that privilege when she left him. Rory didn't deserve Tim, she was the worst of the worst and he was the best of the best. It was a privilege to get the chance to love and hold him like she used to, and now she was stuck in this eternal purgatory of her own making. 

"About how Althea managed to make it taste so good, I was stunned into silence." she grinned, looking over at him. "She has got to teach me how to cook like that." 

Tim chuckled, his eyes not leaving Rory. She may have been good at hiding the truth behind a sarcastic comment or two, but Tim had always been able to tell when she was lying and she was lying to him at that moment. Normally he would have pushed, but that wasn't his place anymore. 

"If you're going to stand there Timothy, make yourself useful," she said and handed him more dish.

Tim couldn't ignore the plummeting of his stomach, he wasn't Dragon Boy to her anymore and it sunk in a little more each time she called him Timothy. He'd be lying to himself if he said that it didn't bother him each time, but he would not admit it to anyone. 

Back at the table, Conner let out a groan and dropped his head on the table. He had been listening in on Rory and Tim's conversation hoping that one of them finally told the truth but as per usual Tim and Rory skirted around the truth and hid beneath the layers of sarcasm and stubbornness that oozed out of them. 

"What's up with you?" Bart asked, leaning across the table and poking his forehead. 

Conner looked up at gave Bart a look. "I'm going to die of old age before it gets fixed." 

Bart had no idea what he was talking about, could Conner even die of old age? He was a clone, and it was unknown how he could possibly age at all. Getting up, Bart laughed and shook his head. "You're so weird sometimes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back with another part! Rory is finally with the Titans and hanging out with them for a while. You also got to finally meet Althea which is another OC of mine and she is Zatanna's younger cousin who goes by Magician. 
> 
> I am slowly fixing Tim and Rory as you can see, but it is going to take some time for sure but it seems that Conner is picking up on things a lot faster than they are like the good super friend he is.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Rory laid in her bed staring at the ceiling. She thought that the plain design on the while concrete above her would be able to lull her to sleep, but no matter what she did Rory couldn't get comfortable. A million thoughts were going through her head, and most of them were about Tim.

It seemed that he had never told the team she was the assassin known as Ghost, but she didn't know the reason. Was it to protect her or them?

It was bad enough that Conner knew that Tim had something to do with her predicament and that it was to protect him. It's the fact that no one truly knew just how much danger he was in, the only people who knew that he was even involved was Barbara and Conner. 

Before she had left, Duke had his suspicions. He was way smarter than Rory gave him credit for and the fact that he could see into the past and possibly the future as well was pretty cool. Out of everyone in Wayne Manor, it seemed that Duke trusted her the most and it gave Rory a little shred of hope.

If someone who barely knew her could see that she was worth trusting again, then maybe the others would come to trust her the way they used to. 

With a sigh, she rolled onto her side and stared at the wall to her left. The walls looked how she felt on the inside, empty. No matter what she tried, Rory was unable to fall asleep. Slowly, she sat up in bed and pulled her robe overtop her body, and exited her room.

Her feet stepped quietly down the halls, making no sound as she made her way to the kitchen. The trick Jason had shown her years ago still managed to help her sleep, it was the only thing that worked still.

This last year, Rory had seen and done a lot of things that would make anyone lose sleep. She had been the cause of horrors that she wouldn't dare tell anyone, not even Oliver and Roy if they begged but that wasn't what kept her up at night. 

Rory wasn't scared of anything anymore, but that didn't mean she was immune to guilt. 

Guilt for all those people she killed, even if they deserved it. Years ago when she learned that her parents were assassins themselves working for Ra's, she promised herself that she would never stoop to that level, and in a way she hadn't.

Rory didn't kill for money, fame, or glory. She refrained from doing it the most she could unless it was someone on her list that a high-ranking member of the League. The League of Assassins had been the cause of all the pain in her life, and the threat to Tim's life was the final straw. 

By this point, it was common knowledge that Ra's had sent assassins to try and recruit her. In his eyes, she was too dangerous to be out of his control but he knew that a threat to her own life would not give her enough incentive to join them. Rory had always put others first, including those she loved and that meant she would do anything for Tim.

That night she was told that if she didn't join, someone she loved would pay the price. It was obvious who they meant, after all, Rory was no stranger to being shown photos of her and Tim together as blackmail. 

She decided then and there that being with Tim was more dangerous for him, than if she were to try and fight them off. Rory had to make it seem like she didn't love him, and the words she had said that night did the trick. Tim hated her, and she hated herself because of it.

When she got to the kitchen, it took a while before she found the glass cups and filled one with milk. Putting it in the microwave, Rory leaned against the counter and stared at the granite design. 

Tim had never fallen asleep, instead, he was up working case files when he heard a soft click from down the hall. He figured it was Conner or Bart, but when he heard nothing else Tim knew exactly who it was. Only one other person in the tower could walk quietly enough that he wouldn't hear.

Setting his laptop to the side, he got up and pulled on a shirt before leaving his room. It was against his better judgment, following Rory down the dark hall and into the kitchen, but just because they weren't together didn't mean he would ever stop caring about her. 

Poking his head in, he saw her standing there quietly in her robe and slippers. At first glance it would seem that she hadn't gotten any sleep at all either, but not for the same reasons he did. 

"Hey, why are you up?" he asked, softly leaning against the frame.

Rory's head shot up and turned to look at him. "I couldn't fall asleep," she shrugged.

"You mind if I join you in the sleepless night?" he asked, before stepping further into the kitchen. Rory may have changed a lot in the last year but he could still see remnants of the person she used to be buried deep down.

Rory gave him a half smiled before nodding. "Sure, it's not like I was doing anything exciting." 

Tim smiled softly and glanced at the jug of milk on the counter along with the microwave and put two and two together. "You still use Jason's warm milk tactic?"

"It's the only thing that seems to help me sleep," she answered, pulling the cup out of the microwave and putting a dash of cinnamon on top. She stirred it around with a spoon before taking a sip, letting the warm liquid trickle down her throat. 

"What's keeping you up?" he questioned, leaning his back against the counter beside where she stood. "Bart's snoring might get annoying but after a while, you learn to tune him out while he is asleep and awake." 

Rory let out a chuckle as she took another sip. "No it's not that, I just can't get comfortable long enough to sleep," she answered looking out the window of the tower. From where she stood, she could see almost all of Jump City lit up in the night. The skyscrapers and street lights were a soft orange glow with the cars zooming past below.

"If the bed is too hard, we can get you a so-"

"The bed isn't too hard Tim, it's too soft." 

Tim stopped in his tracks and stared at her. The expression on her face had been brief but it was there. When she said that, what Tim saw was the girl he loved so long ago who was terrified of admitting that she was scared. 

Carefully, he placed a hand on her arm. He knew very well that he had a better chance of getting punched but there was still that part of Rory possibly opening up to him about what was really on her mind. 

Rory didn't flinch from his touch, let alone react outwardly. Who knew that something this simple would make her heart ache the way it did. Maybe it was because she knew that it would never mean something more to him again. 

"When you travel the world kicking ass, you tend to forget the finer things in life like a soft bed. Jumping from hotels to hostels to cardboard boxes, nothing was ever soft. I guess I just got used to it." She continued to stare out the window. "I guess it helped to be unable to get a full night's rest when you have a target on your back." 

Tim stared at her, it seemed that she had a rough time the last year while she was gone. The little bits and pieces she would let slip gave him some insight into how she lived, and it was anything but easy. 

Rory took another sip of her milk as she stared out the window. "You know, with the five of us here it's going to be hard to sneak past all of us. You can let yourself unwind enough so you can get some sleep." Tim said as he watched her.

She gave him a side glance before looking out the window. "I'm used to it, I haven't slept right since..." Since she left Gotham, and him along with it was what she almost said out loud. But she couldn't, not after all this. They were finally having a normal conversation without someone around and it felt good to just talk. But Rory had to keep her guard up, one slip up and her walls would come crumbling down along with the last bit of resolve she had left. If her walls collapsed, so would she.

Tim stood at her side and raised a brow. Rory stopped talking mid-sentence as if she still wanted to say something to him but stopped before she said it. Tim knew the feeling, inside him, there was a voice yelling at him to take the chance, consequences be damned. He needed to feel her against him like he once did, Rory was what kept him going each day and when he lost her he had almost lost himself. 

He felt a weight on his shoulder and saw that Rory was out like a light. She must have fallen asleep while he was lost in thought and leaned against him without thinking. With a soft smile, he carefully scooped her up and began the walk back towards her room. Tim tried to ignore the rapid beating of his heart while he carried her and hoped that if it was beating as hard as he thought it was that it didn't wake her.

Kicking the door open slowly, Tim walked into her room that still as bare as it was when it was unoccupied and set her on the bed. Brushing the loose strands out of her hair, it took everything Tim had to not place a kiss on her forehead. Instead, he settled for covering her with the comforter and ordering a firmer mattress to be delivered the next day.

Rory woke with a start the next morning, sitting up in her bed she realized that she wasn't in the kitchen like she had previously thought to be. The last thing she remembered was talking to Tim, but what was the last thing she said to him? When Rory was tired and falling asleep, her filter loosens so she doesn't watch what she says as much, and in her case that could have been very bad. 

Getting out of her bed, she saw that there was a note on her desk and knew instantly that it was Tim who left it without having to look at the signature.

_Rory,_

_I figured you needed more sleep than you let on so I told the others that you were jetlagged still. Once you wake, we'll be in the training room if you want to stop by._

_~Tim_

Rory placed the note back on her desk and decided that maybe some training was what she needed. Tim had invited her, so maybe it was a team decision. It was still unknown to Rory what her position on the team was, or if the others even knew her secret. Dressing in clothes she packed for days like this, Rory pulled on her shoes and fixed her hair out of her face before making her way down to the training room.

It didn't take her long to find her way, all she had to do was follow the sounds of the voices from the others and they would lead her to where she wanted to bed. No sooner did she walk into the room did something come flying at her from across the room, Rory managing to catch it before it hit her in the shoulder.

Rory looked at the training staff and then over towards the group of people across the room. From her first observation, Rory knew who the culprit was. Someone as big as Conner could not hide behind his friends who were like half his size. She raised her brow before flipping the staff in her hand. 

"I haven't been here for 24 hours yet and you are already trying to take my head off? I must have done something right then." she grinned and threw it back for Tim to catch.

"It was an accident! Tim was trying to teach me something and I missed." Conner said quickly while trying to hide behind Bart still who only zoomed out of the way as Rory got closer. 

Rory smiled at him softly, "It's alright Wonder Boy," she started before a grin spread across her face. "But this is not on accident."

Before Conner could react, Rory flipped him over her shoulder and pinned him down using his own weight and strength against him. Even if it didn't work, Rory knew how to take down Superman in a fight without kryptonite which was no easy feat. 

In fact, she had only done that twice, and each time was harder than the last. 

Althea let out a shocked gasp as Conner's body hit the floor with a loud crash and Tim and Bart bursted out laughing at their friend. Rory was half his height and she took him out like he was nothing more than a training dummy.

"Hey! Let me go!" he cried trying to wiggle out of her hold only to make Rory laugh before letting him go, pushing onto her feet with a handspring. 

"Next time, watch what you're doing." she patted his shoulder before standing next to Bart who only stared at her in wonder.

"You have got to teach me how to do that, it could come in handy," he said, with an excited look on his face. 

"Well, if the same tactic works on Superman then it has to work on his mini-me right?" she chuckled adjusting her shirt. 

The others just stared at her, it wasn't every day someone like her came to stay with them at Titans tower and not just anyone could take down Superman and live to tell the tale.

"How did you manage to do that?" Cassie asked, stepping towards her with Althea at her side. 

Rory looked between them all, the realization dawning on her that the only Justice League members they had any real contact with were their mentors. Rory was the only member, previous or not that they had met. 

"He taught me. Batman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary trained me to the best ability a human can be trained. All three of them thought it was a good idea to learn how to fight a Kryptonian with various resources." she explained, glancing at Tim.

He stood off to the side with a slight smile on his face. Tim had known all of this because the day Rory finally took down Clark, she couldn't stop smiling no matter what happened. Even during patrol the following night, she was as happy as could be. 

"Could you teach us some of your moves?" Althea asked, tilting her head. 

Rory's eyes widened a little as she looked at them. To her, they were all very formidable heroes on their own, but in the back of her head, Rory knew that she was the only one with that much experience. The only one who could even come close to the kind of experience she had was Tim, but even then she had some that he didn't.

She casted Tim a look for reassurance, only for him to give her a shrug. "I mean, I don't see why not? I am the best fighter here." she grinned at the end of her sentence seeing the look Tim gave her when she said that.

"Now that's just assuming things, how do you know that I haven't gotten better in the last year?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"I didn't assume anything Timothy, I've gotten better as well. Therefore, I am still better than you." She teased while quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." 

The atmosphere in the room changed quickly with his challenge. Rory narrowed her eyes at him while Tim stood there with the same stupid grin on his face. The others could feel the tension as well, it was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Alright bird brain, bring it on," she answered and stepped onto the mat and fixed her hair. Tim followed as they both got into a stance. 

Off to the side, Rory caught Conner, Bart, Cassie, and Althea placing bets on how this fight would pan out. Rory was confident in her ability, but Tim was too and if she wasn't careful he could very well catch her off guard. 

Letting out a breath, Rory darted for Tim and aimed a well-timed series of punches only for him to block them. Tim's reaction time had gotten quicker but Rory was still faster. Once her last punch was blocked, Tim swung his fist only for Rory to duck under his arm and spin a kick into his side making him stumble back. 

"Oh I'm sorry, did I get you?" she teased.

Tim let out a huff and laughed as he adjusted his stance in time to block Rory's attacks once more. But this time, he was ready for her when she aimed a kick at his stomach. Tim blocked her kick and knocked her foot out from under her, sending Rory crashing to the floor.

He stood above her with a triumphant look. "Seems like I am better than you thought." he grinned.

Rory rolled her eyes and used her own feet to trip him before pinning Tim's body to the floor. "That, or I let you knock me over so I could pin you easier." she grinned looking down at him. 

No matter how hard Tim struggled, Rory had him pinned. It was only a matter of time before he tapped out and lost the fight. He couldn't see a way out of this unless he distracted her.

"You know, if you wanted to be on top of me all you had to do was ask." 

Rory froze in place at his words, did Tim just flirt with her? By the time she processed the words he said, Tim had her flipped face down onto the mat with her arms pinned behind her back and he straddled her waist. 

"Got you." 

She could see his smug face in her head, looking down at her with the grin she loved so much. What he said took her by surprise, Tim didn't hold those kinds of feelings towards her anymore so why did he say them? There was no way he thought she still cared, not after what she said to him. But if either of those options were true, then why did he say it?

Rory tried to struggle out of his hold only for him to pin her harder. If this was the game he wanted to play, then Rory was going to beat him at it.

"You would think that you're excited over finally beating me in a fight but we both know that's not why." she grinned before twisting her hips and using her weight against him to pin Tim's body beneath her to a point he couldn't get out.

The other four stood to the side and watched in uncomfortable silence, none of them knew what was going on between them but it was obvious that there was still some sort of tension. 

"You guys know we are still here right?" Bart asked, watching them.

Rory and Tim's heads both snapped in their direction before looking at each other. Rory quickly got up off of Tim before brushing off her shirt. How could she be so stupid to let herself fall for something like that? Even now after all these years, she could hear Malcolm Merlyn's voice in her head saying that it was irresponsible to let her guard down like that. But for Rory, it was nearly impossible to not let it down around Tim.

This was what she was afraid of when she decided on joining him at Titans Tower. Rory was scared that he would slowly worm his way right back into her heart and just like before she would be wrapped around his finger. She couldn't let herself fall for this again, she couldn't not when there were lives at stake.

It had been a year and she still didn't fully know why the League of Assassins wanted her to join them, but it was serious enough that they threatened Tim's life. She had been successful in making them believe that she was dead but with two encounters from Cheshire and multiple groups of assassins while she was in Gotham, the target was bigger than ever on her back and she knew it was only a matter of time before they went after Tim as they had promised regardless of the fact that she had dumped him.

Rory just hoped that when that day came, she would be ready for them even if it meant giving up her life for Tim. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one was a little more filler on the situation, but Rory and Tim were getting on better terms, right? And their sparring session? Whew. The next chapter is going to be fun for sure!


	19. Chapter Eighteen

The days passed slowly, but Rory was growing more comfortable in her position with the Titans. No one but Tim knew that she was Ghost, and the other four were asked to keep it on the down-low that Rory was even with them. The story that Rory and Tim gave the rest of the team was that the League of Assassins was after her, trying to get her to join so Rory ditched the hero gig and went into hiding. 

That was the story that everyone was supposed to give if anyone outside the team found out that she was there, and considering that the story was mostly the truth, they weren't asking too much of their friends. It gave them plausible deniability, and Rory an out just in case it came to it. 

It also helped that they were all scared of her in some shape or form. Even from her Arrowette days, Rory had a reputation of being good at what she did. She was smart, resourceful, and was skilled in multiple forms of combat. After revealing that she took down Superman in a spar twice, they seemed to tiptoe around her. Rory didn't mind it that much, she wasn't there to make friends. She was there to hide and get answers.

It had been two weeks since she arrived and the Titans often went out on patrol without her while Rory played guy-in-the-chair for them while they were out. She was smart enough that it benefitted all of them, and it gave her the chance to talk to people she enjoyed speaking with. 

_"So, is it just me, or are things really fucking slow lately?"_ Duke asked, his voice coming from the speaker to Rory's right.

She glanced between monitors while she watched Tim and the others walk around Jump City. "What, did I take all the excitement with me?" she chuckled, checking her phone.

 _"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it really looks like it. Not one peep out of assassins here and a few of the rouges have been awfully quiet too. Ivy and Scarecrow were active for a couple of days but fell off our radar again. Bruce and the others are waiting on more activity from her before acting."_ he explained. 

Rory froze at the mention of Poison Ivy. It had been a long time since she had seen the supervillain, considering that she was in Arkham until after Rory had left Gotham. She was willing to put down good money on the fact that she had a grudge against Rory still, amongst other things.

"She doesn't know that I was back in town does she?"

 _"Why would that be important? Is there anything we are missing?"_ he asked immediately.

Rory scolded herself for mentioning it. Of course, Bruce and the others were keeping tabs on Ivy considering her past with her. It was embarrassing enough the first time when she learned what had happened, but now it just hurt. That was the night she first kissed Tim and even thinking about it brought up memories that she wanted to forget. 

_"Rory? Is everything okay? Did Ivy do something to you that we don't know about?"_

Rory snapped out of her thought and shook her head. "No, I just have a let's say colorful past with Ivy. Bruce knows about it, but I'm sure she probably wants to kick my ass for-"

She should have been watching the screens more carefully, how could Rory have been so careless about it? If she hadn't have been lost in her own world, Rory would have noticed it sooner. There was no way she could mistake what she just saw, that shade of orange was ingrained into her brain. 

_"Rory? You there? Why would Ivy want to kick your ass?"_ The tone of his voice sounded panicked, probably close to how Rory looked. 

"Duke, I have to go. Call you later." she quickly hung up before pressing the coms button to link herself with Tim.

"Tim! Get out of there now and get back to the tower as soon as you can!" she cried.

_Tim froze in his tracks and turned, the camera turning with his body. "What are you talking about, there is no one here?" he asked._

"There is no time to argue! You and the others need to get back here now!" she snapped slamming her hands on the table.

Now that she thought about it, the other four were quiet as well all of a sudden. Their cams seemed to be normal, but something felt off. They were all stationary for way longer than they should have been. 

Rory listened as he contacted the others, only for there to be no reply. This set her on edge even more, which was not a good sign. There was no way in hell that he had found her that fast and took out the other four Titans without her or Tim noticing.

With that last thought, the realization dawned on her. It wasn't the others he was truly after, the target was Tim.

As if it was confirmation of her thoughts, Tim's camera lost signal completely and she stared at a static screen in horror. Tim was in trouble and the others were most likely unable to help him. She was the only one who could. 

Without a second thought, Rory dashed to her room and pulled on her Ghost suit, and grabbed her swords and handguns. She was not about to walk into this situation unprepared. Jumping out of her window, Rory grappled across the rooftops as she chased the small red blip that was supposed to be Tim. It was still active so that meant that Tim was alive, but not for much longer if she took her time.

The names of the streets blurred as she ran across the city, the red blip getting closer and closer. She had to get there in time, to save Tim. Just because they weren't together didn't mean that he deserved to die for her mistakes. 

Soon Rory was on the same rooftop, but there was no one around. The tracker was activated by organic material and was placed in Tim's arm. if Slade removed the tracker, it would have shut down. It had to still be in him and he had to be alive. 

With a sound of air rushing past her, Rory jumped back and saw a white arrow there in front of her with a note attached. 

_If you want him back alive and unharmed, go to the old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. You have one hour or he will die._

Below the arrow was a pigeon struggling for breath and had a large incision on its side. Taking a deep breath, Rory dug her fingers in and let out a shaky breath at what she was holding. It was the tracker from Tim's arm. She watched as it quit sending a signal and the red dot disappeared from her radar. 

He must have done something to the others for them to not respond immediately, and Rory was scared to find out what it was. What were her better options, go and save Tim alone or try and find at least one of the others and risk wasting time and Tim dies as a consequence? 

Rory let out a cry of rage and kicked the now dead pigeon across the rooftop, he knew just how to manipulate her into these impossible positions. She was playing his game once again, but if she could win last time then Rory can sure as hell beat him again and again until he finally quit and left those she cared about alone. 

This would be the last time Slade Wilson interfered with her life, Rory was going to make sure of it. 

Shoving the note in her pocket, she tried once more to reach one of the others. It took a couple of minutes but she managed to get responses from both Superboy and Magician. "Is anyone there? I need a response sooner than later." she snapped.

 _"I'm here sunshine, what the hell happened? I feel like I got hit by a bus and that's saying something."_ Superboy groaned through his com.

 _"One second I was keeping an eye on downtown and the next I was dragged from the roof and was knocked out. I'm guessing the same happened to the others?"_ Magician asked.

Rory let out a huff. "If only it were that simple, Tim's in trouble. He took the four of you out so I would be lured out into the open. Safe to say that it worked." She took a look around the city and then at her clock. She was wasting time by playing catch up, when Slade made a promise he made sure he fulfilled it, and if he said that Tim would die if she didn't show within the hour, then it was going to happen.

 _"What do you mean he is in trouble?! Who is this he!? Sunshine, you better start explaining fast."_ Superboy snapped. 

"Deathstroke, he has him. He did this to drag me out of the tower. If I don't show up in the next hour, he'll kill him." she explained. "I just wanted to make sure the rest of you were okay before I left."

 _"Rory, that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard out of you. You really think that you will make it out of there alive?"_ Superboy growled before he let out a groan. Whatever it was that Slade did to him, it was still affecting his body.

"You need to get back to the tower, I'm not sure what he did to all of you but I can hear your groans of pain. Magician can check you over back at the tower. If Wonder Girl and Impulse are okay, have them on stand by in just in case I need a quick getaway." 

Rory could hear Superboy start to argue her point, but then he let out another groan and there was a thud from his side of the link. Slade had to have used something on him, Superboy was their hard hitter outside of Wonder Girl and made sure that they were out for the count.

"Magician, take him back to the tower," she ordered. "I'll radio once I'm close."

There was a hum of agreement and Rory heard Magician mutter a series of spells before there was nothing. 

_"Who the hell put you in charge Sunshine?"_ Superboy asked, trying to breathe through the pain.

"I'm the only one who wasn't knocked on their ass. Besides Wonder Boy, I have years more experience than the rest of you including our fearless leader. Now shut up and get the help you need." With that, Rory signed off and took off across the city towards the address on the note. 

It didn't even take her that long to find the warehouse, no more than twenty minutes. Slade had given her a full hour, so what was the catch? Was she at the right place, or was he planning something specifically for her once she arrived?

Taking a deep breath, Rory jumped down and swung through the nearest window shattering it as she landed in a roll. Bracing herself with her hand, Rory took a quick look around. The warehouse was dead silent, no sign of any living thing not even a groan from a captive Tim. 

Narrowing her eyes, Rory scanned the area before she went further into the building. Whatever it was, something was messing with the video in her mask. The screen was glitching every few seconds and she couldn't get a full reading of the building. 

"Of course," she muttered and removed her mask before tossing it to the floor. Slade had to have brought her to a building that knocked out her mask's sensors. It wasn't something Rory needed it was more of a precaution, but she knew that Slade probably had some dramatic reasoning for it. 

Slowly she rose to her feet and walked across the flooring, she stayed silent as the night listening for a sign of anyone or anything closing in on her. Floor by floor, Rory ignored the slow-growing headache as she checked every room for something she could be missing that could give her a clue to where Tim was being held. 

She could feel her body getting more and more sluggish by the minute, but brushed it off as typical exhaustion. It wasn't until she got to the ground floor that Rory figured out that Slade was holding Tim captive in the basement. Looking at her clock, she had at least half an hour to find Tim- 

Rory shook her head, that couldn't have been right. Not even three minutes ago, the clock she had just under 35 minutes and now she was down to five. The lingering headache that had been growing in the back of her head suddenly became stronger and her heart rate began to pick up. 

She continued to take deep breaths and hurried her way down the basement steps, halfway down she tripped over her own foot and tumbled down the rest of them. Something was very wrong, she was never this clumsy even when she was drunk Rory was not clumsy. 

There was only one door at the bottom of the steps, Rory's vision blurred as she tried over and over to reach the handle only for her hand to phase through it. Quickly she got angrier and angrier, why couldn't she just grab the fucking handle?!

She was covered in a thin layer of sweat now, and it seemed that her suit was choking her. Tugging at her collar, Rory finally managed to get a hold of the handle and pushed it open. The only thing was, there wasn't a basement on the other side. 

In fact, it was daylight where she was now. Turning back to find the door, Rory saw that it was gone, and left in its wake was a familiar collapsed building. Rory swallowed the lump forming in her throat, she knew exactly where she was. 

Rory was back in Star City the day that Slade killed her parents. Deep down Rory knew that they were not good people, but the version of her parents she knew could not be tainted by the knowledge that they were assassins, no different than she was anymore. 

Hearing a cry behind her, Rory turned on her heel only to be met with a younger version of herself sobbing over the lifeless forms of her parents. Only this time, there was no Oliver and Dinah there to comfort her. Instead, they were dead next to Michael and Clara Sonnet with Roy at their feet. 

Seeing them like that broke something in Rory, she let out a choked gasp as she pushed her younger self out of the way and tried to shake Oli, Roy, and Dinah awake.

"Please, Oli come on! Please! You promised you wouldn't leave me! I can't lose you too!" she sobbed before trying to shake Roy awake. 

"This is all your fault." a voice spoke from behind her. 

Rory snarled, ready to maim whoever it was that said that only to see that it was her younger self there staring at her with innocent eyes. 

"Their deaths are on your hands, just like theirs are." Little Rory pointed behind the older one once more.

Taking a shaky breath, Rory slowly turned on her heel and the sight she saw was devastating. Instead of a crumpled building now, Rory was in Gotham again. There sprawled across the steps of Wayne Manor were the lifeless figures of Alfred, Cass, Duke, and Damian. '

"No no no no no!" she cried diving for them, trying to feel for a pulse. Her eyes met the lifeless gaze of Damian and she grew hysterical. He was so young, he didn't deserve this fate!

Her headache began to grow worse, and before her eyes Rory watched the scene morph into the Batcave. Across the floor of the cave were the last residents of Wayne Manor. Dick, Barbara, Stephanie, Jason, and Bruce were lying dead on the floor with gold daggers sticking out of their chest and a single feather resting on the keyboard of the bat computer. 

She couldn't stand this any longer, Rory gripped her hair as she fell to her knees. It was becoming too much, every single one of them died because of her. Her body began to shake from the sobs she was trying to hide, even though she was the only one there. 

A hand fell on her shoulder and Rory jumped to see Jesse's animated corpse staring down at her. Letting out a scream, Rory dove backward and away from her dead friend. This had to be a trick, Jesse was dead. She was there when they buried his body in Star City in the Queen family mortuary. That was the last time she ever saw him.

A long skinny finger reached out and pointed at her as Rory laid there in fear. "You did this to me, it's all your fault Twinkle Toes. You're a plague, a curse on those around you," he grumbled, Rory watched in horror as his hair fell out and his face became more sullen and maggots crawled out of the holes that once held his eyes.

Rory was close to vomiting at the sight, her heart rate was erratic and she was barely able to keep herself up. Her throat was sore as if she had been screaming and her hands and hair hurt like she had been pulling it this entire time. 

"It's your fault Tim was taken and it's your fault that he died." 

Those words struck fear in her heart. Her eyes went wide as everything faded away leaving just herself and a lone figure out in the distance, a figure she knew by heart. Rory ran as fast as her feet could carry her, she stumbled every few steps trying to get to him but it seemed that every step she got closer he would get farther away.

After what seemed like hours, Rory reached his body and rolled him onto his back. Tim Drake laid dead in front of her with a hole through his chest. Rory choked back a sob, Tim was dead and she wasn't there to stop it. She cupped his face letting the tears fall freely from her eyes as she begged and pleaded for him to wake up. This was the last thing Rory wanted, everything she did was to keep him safe, and here she was crying over his dead body.

"Tim, I'm so sorry." she sobbed. "I wasn't good enough..." 

Pulling his upper body into her arms, Rory cradled his lifeless form burying her face into his shoulder as she held his body with a grip that could rival death. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops?
> 
> Can anyone figure out what is happening to Rory? I know exactly what is happening to her and you'll all have to wait


	20. Chapter Nineteen

_"Tim! Get out of there now and get back to the tower as soon as you can!"_

Red Robin stopped in his tracks and looked around at Rory's warning from the other side. "What are you talking about, there is no one here?" He even did a double-take as he spoke just in case something happened. 

_"There is no time to argue! You and the others need to get back here now!"_

He heard a slam and could only assume Rory hit the desk. Recognizing the fear in her voice, Red Robin knew that something was really wrong. Rory never let her fear show during missions unless something was really wrong. 

"Superboy, Impulse, come in," he said into his comlink. All he got in response was static, which was definitely not good. "Wonder Girl, Magician, are you guys alright?" Red Robin waited for a response from anyone but to no avail. Nothing about this sat right with him, there weren't many things that could make Rory this upset. In fact, he could only think of two things that would belong on that list. 

When one of them got hurt on patrol, and...

Before Red Robin could even finish his thought he was shot by something that sent an electrical charge all through his body, shorting out his suit cam and disabled his comlink. With a cry of pain, he fell to his knees as he tried to pry off whatever it was that was electrocuting him. Fighting through the pain, his hand found a small round device on his chest. 

With a groan, he pried it off his body and laid on the roof trying to catch his breath. He knew exactly who he was dealing with, and so did Rory. That meant that she was coming for him, even at the risk of her own life. 

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps to his left and he looked up and saw the masked face of Deathstroke above him. Red Robin gave a tired grin, gripping his side. "Long time no see, considering the last time I saw you we kicked your ass."

If Slade thought he was funny, he didn't show it. Red Robin tried to force his body to get up and react, but the electric shock took so much out of him that he couldn't even convince his arms to move. His best course of action was to talk his way out of it. 

"That little girlfriend of yours is the reason I'm here, now hold still." was all he said before he pulled out a syringe full of a suspicious-looking liquid. "An old friend gave me this, let's see how well it works."

Red Robin's eyes widened as he finally managed to get up and rolled away, but his body was still trying to shake off the shock. Trying to fight off the older assassin, he blocked every hit Slade sent his way trying not to fall over before making a break for the edge of the roof. He didn't get very far before Slade caught him and stabbed the syringe in his neck. Falling to the floor, he watched as Slade crouched over him and took his arm before pulling out a knife. 

Trying to shake off the sudden fatigue, Red Robin's mind felt foggy as he felt pain in his right arm. Letting out a cry, he felt something on his arm but couldn't figure out what it was. Whatever it was that Slade gave him, it slowed him down immensely. 

His vision went blurry as Red Robin watched Slade grab a pigeon and shove something into its side before attaching it to a white arrow. He knew what that meant, it was a message for Rory. Slade was using him to lead her right into a trap, and Red Robin refused to let himself be used like that. 

Gripping his arm, he could feel that it was warmer than it should be and was covered in a sticky substance. Glancing at his fingers, he could see that his hand was clearly covered in blood. Well, that would explain the pain he was in. Considering where the hole in his arm was, Red Robin had a really good guess of what had happened. 

Trying to stay as quiet as he could, he rolled over and slowly got up, and inched his way to the edge of the roof once more. Slade was occupied with the pigeon still, so this could be his chance. Taking out his grappling gun, he aimed it behind him. 

His vision was getting worse by the second, with whatever Slade stuck him with and the now constant loss of blood it wouldn't be long before Red Robin passed out. He just hoped that he would be away from Slade when it happened. 

Closing one eye, Red Robin aimed his grabble and shot it across an alley. Just before he was about to jump, he was in on the head really hard, and then everything went black.

_Tim walked into the apartment and slammed the door shut before dropping the duffel that held his suit on the floor. How could she have been so stupid, did Rory not understand just how much he worried about her every night on patrol?_

_He watched as she stormed off to their room and slammed that door shut. It was obvious that she didn't want to talk, but Tim wasn't taking no for an answer. Not this time. With a frown, he followed her and pushed the door open, and stared at her as she stood quietly in the corner refusing to look at him._

_"Rory we have to talk about this eventually, might as well get it over and done with now," he said crossing his arms._

_Rory refused to answer or even acknowledge him. Tim knew that he crossed a line tonight, but she had to understand that Tim actually thought that she was in danger. After the last year they had, Tim was more protective of Rory than ever. From getting kidnapped and tortured by the Joker, pregnancy scares, stabbed, and blown up to losing a friend, Tim never once saw her just quit._

_But the look she gave him earlier said that she was tired of fighting, but this wasn't a fight they couldn't ignore._

_"Songbird, please. I know, I shouldn't have snapped and for that I'm sorry but you should have let me in on what you were planning." he expressed._

_It was then Rory finally turned to look at him. "Let you in on it? Tim, if I told you what I was going to do you would have tried to talk me out of it then get pissed that I refused to listen. This wasn't the first time I've done this sort of thing, I just wish you'd trust me more."_

_"Trust you more? Rory, I trust you with my life, my identity, and my heart. It's everyone else that I don't trust!" he cried, walking closer to her._

_"Tim if you trusted me you wouldn't have freaked out as badly as you did!" she snapped stomping her foot._

_"I freaked out because Cobblepott had his hands all over you!" he shouted. "I hated every moment of it and the worst part was, you didn't tell me! You've never had to ask me for permission, but I'd like a heads up when you do something like this again so I know and don't almost completely ruin the mission!" he explained taking her hands. "Rory, I love you more than anything. I freak out because I don't want you hurt, that's happened enough."_

_Rory let out a sigh as her eyes finally met his, her gaze softened and she looked less angry. "I love you too Tim, so much," she answered. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you have to promise that you'll freak out less about missions like this okay?" Rory cupped his cheek in her hand as his blue eyes met hers with a gaze so soft that she felt like she was on cloud 9._

_"I can't promise that I won't freak out, but I can promise that I will not get in the way at all." Tim's hands released her as he pulled her closer and placed a soft kiss on her lips._

Shaking his head, Tim slowly woke up and took in his surroundings. At first glance, he seemed to be in a dark room most likely a basement and he was tied to a metal chair with chains. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, except that over his mask he wore a gas mask that he was sure he did not put there himself. 

But why the hell would he need a gas mask and why would Slade give it to him in the first place?

Whatever it was that was injected into him seemed to be slowly wearing off but Tim could still feel the sluggish effects of it. Looking around he saw Slade there waiting by the door watching something on a screen in front of him with a device in his hand that looked to be a tracker that he was watching something in the building with. 

"What the hell is this for?" he asked loudly.

Slade looked up and over at him and shook his head. "And here I was thinking that you were supposed to be a genius, Red Robin. Consider the fact that I put one on you, but didn't bother giving a similar luxury to our dear Aurora."

"What the fuck does that mean?" he growled.

Tim was almost sure Slade was smiling at this point, what had he done to Rory?

"Why do you think I put a mask on you? I need you at least somewhat coherent, mine has a built-in filtration system. It's meant to filter out odorless gasses and toxins."

That's when it clicked in Tim's head. Bruce had mentioned that there was a random sighting of both Poison Ivy and Scarecrow on the same day and they all thought it was odd. It was even weirder when neither of them resurfaced again after that. 

Bruce had sent in Dick, Barbara, Jason, and Cass with all four of them coming back with little to no information. The only thing they had found was a chemical formula, but none of them knew what it was supposed to be. They all decided to send it to Tim with strict instructions to not let Rory know about it just in case, and found traces of both Ivy and Scarecrow's toxins. If the two of them managed to make that formula a reality, there was no telling what it could do to someone. 

Tim had a dark feeling that if he took off his mask, he would get a first-hand experience of it. 

Looking at the screen, he could see a vague outline of a figure he knew all too well. Tim should have known better than to think Rory wouldn't have come after him. Slade knew the right strings to pull to make Rory and everyone else a puppet in his game. Even though they weren't what they used to be, Rory still had that same sense of morality where no one was left behind. 

Only Rory had walked right into a trap, if his intuition was right then Slade was pumping the building full of the Ivy/Scarecrow toxin that Bruce and the others had found and she wasn't wearing her mask. Tim swallowed as he watched Rory on the screen search room by room for him, only to watch her stumble every so often. The toxin was starting to take its toll on her and he had no idea if she even knew what was happening.

The screen shut off once Rory got to the door that led to the stairs, and Slade turned to look at him. "Don't look so worried, she'll be joining us soon; if she even makes it down here alive."

A surge of anger coursed through his body as he tried to break free of his bonds, he was tired of playing victim to Deathstroke's games and he was tired of Rory always paying the price for it. Slade opened his mouth to threaten him when there was a loud thud coming from a few doors down and they both knew what it was. 

Only a few seconds passed before Tim heard a blood-curdling scream. A scream that was so agonizing, he dared not to think about what Rory was experiencing. The screaming didn't stop, Tim was sure that they were the only three people in the building so what was putting her in so much pain that Rory screamed like that?

Without a word, Slade left the room slamming the door behind him. Tim took this as his one chance to try and get a signal of sorts out. He still had his gauntlets on, so he shifted and moved to a position where he could press the right button to get out a distress signal. Tim had a feeling that Rory told them not to follow her, and the others still didn't know that she was Ghost but this was a situation too dire for secrecy like that. 

With a faint beep, Tim sighed knowing that he hit the right button so it was only a matter of time. As the beep faded, the door was slammed open and in walked Slade and he was dragging Rory behind him by the hair. 

She was still writhing and screaming in pain with her hands grabbing at her hair while she sobbed. Whatever it was she was seeing, Tim had a feeling it was the things that she had buried deep down to never resurface again.

Slade dragged her closer before he dropped Rory at Tim's feet where he could see that her veins were discolored all over her body, with a thick layer of sweat and her hands covered in blood. 

Tim tried to hide just how much seeing her like this bothered him, he had seen her at her lowest points but this was worse. The pain was visible on her face as it was in her scream and he watched in horror as her body writhed and contorted from the pain trying to relieve it. 

"It's amazing what just five minutes of slow exposure to this new toxin does to the human body. She's been breathing it in for now half an hour, I wonder if she's taken in a lethal dose."

The snarl that left Tim was almost inhuman, Slade took the coward's way out in getting the job done because he knew that there was a slim chance of winning a fair fight against her. He knew that letting his anger getting the better of him was dangerous but if he didn't do something Rory was going to die from an overdose of the toxin and by that point it would be too late. 

"You asshole, do you really think that this will be enough? What do you think is going to happen when she dies, and everyone finds out it was you? No amount of assassins can stop the number of people who would be coming for your head." he said, his voice strained from hiding the anger quickly rising.

Slade stared at him before he started to laugh at his words. "That's adorable, do you really think that anyone would care if she died especially after all she has done? Once the world finds out who is behind the mask they'll turn on her. Aurora's downfall has always been her own doing, I'm just giving it a little push."

"How about I give you a little push right out the window?" 

Their heads turned to see Wonder Girl, Impulse, and Magician all storm in from the doorway, and each of them wearing masks to filter out the toxins in the air.

In a blur of red, Impulse ran around and freed Tim from his bindings before he and Wonder Girl both launched themselves at Slade pushing him back through a wall. Magician raised her hands as her hands began to flow around her and quickly spoke a spell.

_"Llaw eht ni mih part!"_

Tim and the others watched as the rock wall next to them formed around Slade and trapped him against it as Magician had commanded. Wonder Girl and Impulse stood by while Tim picked up Rory, in the process of their rescue Rory had passed out from the pain and slumped in his arms. 

"Impulse! Get her back to the Tower immediately!" he ordered. 

Turning on his heel, Impulse was right in front of him with Rory in his arms. "Right away, oh fearless leader." he gave Tim a salute before he sped off towards the Tower leaving Magician, Wonder Girl, and Tim there to take care of Slade. 

Magician's spell was wearing off quickly as Slade fought his way free. Tim knew that they wouldn't get far with this fight. They were all too weak and with the condition that Rory was in, it wasn't a risk he was willing to take. 

"Wonder Girl, get us out of here!" he ordered. 

Before Slade could break out of the wall, and Magician's spell completely wore off, Wonder Girl picked them both up and flew her way out of the building. 

"You have a lot of explaining to do when we get to the tower." she snapped as they flew over the city. 

Tim shrunk a little under her gaze. Normally Wonder Girl was a sweet person, but when she was pissed she had everyone cowering under her gaze. Tim was no exception. They were almost halfway back when Bart contacted them through their comlink. 

_"Hey, I got Rory back. Conner and I are working on getting whatever is in her system out of her."_

"Be careful! I have no idea just how toxic it is! Just keep her stable until I get there." Tim responded.

There was a hum of affirmation from both Conner and Bart and then silence. Whatever was keeping their attention, he hoped that it was helping Rory. Almost ten minutes later, they landed on the roof and Tim took off for the med bay with Cassie and Althea behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you finally find out what I did to Rory! A lot of you had the right ideas when saying that it was fear toxin! Only one person actually guessed both Ivy and Scarecrow toxin and that what she saw was all a nightmare. They're both out and safe but we aren't out of the woods yet! Rory is still infected and Tim has a lot of explaining to do.


	21. Chapter Twenty

Tim unhooked his cape as he ran down the hall towards the med bay. He could hear Rory's screams echoing down the halls, and it made his heart lurch into his throat. Whatever that toxin was doing to her, he only hoped that he would be able to counter it. 

Cassie and Althea were right behind him as he ran, discarding bits of his suit so he had fewer items slowing him down. Tim's main priority was getting to Rory and keeping her alive, he would never forgive himself if she died let alone saving his life. 

The closer they got to the med bay, the louder Rory's screams were. Tim couldn't tell if they were from pain or terror, he had never heard her scream like this and they had been together through some of the toughest times of their lives. Slamming the door open, he saw Conner and Bart trying to hold down Rory's writhing figure. 

They had managed to get her still enough to get a heart monitor on her, but it was off the charts. If they didn't calm her down and fast Rory was going to go into cardiac arrest if she hadn't already. 

"Tim! We can't keep her still long enough to get anything in her!" Bart cried laying across her legs to hold her still while Conner had her arms and chest pinned back. They both were having trouble keeping her down, and it worried Tim and the others. There was no way in hell Rory suddenly got that strong, Slade had to have done something to slow down Conner to take away most of his strength. 

Cassie and Althea both ran over to hold her down, Cassie taking over for Conner to keep her down. "We need to sedate her now!" 

"I'm working on it!" Tim snapped digging through drawers upon drawers to find the right tools and sedative. Stabbing the syringe into the bottle, he managed to get a decent dose in it before turning back to the team holding down a hysterical Rory.

"I need to get this in her neck, pull down her collar some," he said rushing over. 

"Oh sure, why don't we use our spare hands, Timothy." Althea griped. All four of them had both their hands full trying to keep her still so it was up to Tim to get it in the right place. 

Taking a deep breath, Tim held the syringe between his teeth before standing at her head to pull back her collar. "Please let this work," he muttered before he found the right vein and stabbed the syringe into her neck, pushing the sedative into her system. 

All of them took a deep breath as her screams died down to nothing above a whimper, and the heart monitor slowed to a steady pace. Letting out a sigh, they all relaxed as Rory's body relaxed. She wasn't fully asleep, but Tim gave her a big enough dose to calm her down. It was too dangerous to give her a full dose, they had no idea how this was going to react to the toxin in her blood but Tim was worried that if he put her to sleep Rory wasn't going to wake up.

Connor gripped his side as he stood up and glared at his best friend. "You better start talking, what the fuck happened tonight?" 

Tim's hands rested next to Rory's head as he listened to her whimpers, unaware of what she was seeing because of the toxin. Dropping his head, he let out a sigh of defeat. "Neither of us wanted to hide the truth, but we knew that the more involved you were the higher the chance of a target being placed on your backs." he started. 

"What does that mean?" Bart questioned, looking at Tim with confusion. 

"If none of you have figured it out yet, I'd be very surprised," he answered, refusing to look up at his friends. All of them trusted him to keep them safe, and all of them had nearly died just hours ago and it was his fault and his fault alone.

The silence that fell over the five of them was suffocating. All of them did in fact know the answer, but what they wanted to most was an explanation from Tim. Why did he feel like he had to hide it from them, and what the hell was up with Rory? 

"Tim, is this why you broke up? Rory became something that you couldn't be a part of?" Althea asked. 

The laugh that left Tim's lips was anything but amused. "She left me because she was done using me. I guess she felt guilty and dropped me the first chance she got. I was an idiot for thinking that I knew her better than anyone. The only person Rory ever cared about was herself, that was why she left." he snapped, his fists clenching the fabric of the sheets on the medical bed. 

"I don't think that's the truth," Conner spoke up. "Not anymore." 

"What the hell are you talking about? Rory disappeared from Gotham and my- our lives and became an assassin. What about that wasn't selfish?" Tim snapped, finally raising his head to look at his best friend. 

"If she was so selfish, why did she go after you knowing that it was a trap?" 

"Guilty conscience." 

"Tim, you're being ridiculous," Cassie said.

"I'm ridiculous!? I'm the ridiculous one? Really? The last thing she said to me was that she never loved me!" he yelled. "She never loved me she ditched town the first chance she got because she felt guilty!" 

"Tim-" Althea started but Tim cut her off. 

"She didn't go after me! She went after the opportunity to stop Slade, he's out for her head and Rory won't lose to him again." he snapped. "I need to go finish the fucking cure before she dies of a heart attack. Roy would literally kick my ass."

He didn't give the others the chance to speak before he was gone, storming down the hall towards the lap to start engineering a cure leaving his friends with his assassin ex-girlfriend. 

Tim rubbed at his eyes furiously to stop the tears from falling, he refused to shed any more tears for someone who never cared about him. Rory never loved him, and he didn't love her anymore. But if that was true then why the fuck was he crying? 

It didn't take long to get to the lab before locking the door behind himself. Standing there, alone in the dark Tim could feel the darkness creeping up on him. He refused to let himself be affected by her again, his heart couldn't take it any longer. Tim had tried to move on, went on dates, had a few one-night-stands here and there but it didn't mean anything to him. None of them were Rory, and no matter how hard he tried, he would never stop loving her.

Watching her scream in pain like that, broke something inside him. The last time he had heard her scream like that was during all of those fucked up videos the Joker sent when he held her captive. But even then, they weren't as pained as they sounded tonight.

Sitting at the bench, he punched in the formula Bruce had sent over to see if he could reverse engineer it. This would have been easier if he had a sample of Rory's blood, but that meant he had to go back and see her. 

What Conner had said struck a chord inside him, why would Rory go after him if she truly never cared? Tim loved puzzles and mysteries, but the one he could never solve was a mystery called Aurora Queen. Her words were always so carefully chosen, woven through truths and lies to deceive even the best detectives. She had deceived him, but not once did Tim ever lie to her. 

A beeping sounded from in front of him and looking up, he saw that it was possible but he needed a sample of the toxin. The closest thing they had was what was running through Rory's veins. He had to go back and face whoever was still there. 

With a sigh, he got to his feet and wiped his eyes once more. Tim hadn't noticed just how much he had been crying until he felt how wet his face was. Even after all this time, Rory still had a tight grip on his heart. He was just scared that she would finally crush it, and him along with it. 

Walking out of the lab, Tim slowly made his way back to the med lab. The tower was eerily quiet now that Rory's screams died down. He needed to get the antidote finished soon, there were only so many times he could sedate her before she overdosed on it. 

Taking a deep breath, Tim opened the door and saw that no one was there. The only person left in the room was Rory, who had IVs and other various monitors attached to her. Her condition was stable, but that was only going to last so long. 

Now that it was just him, Tim could finally get a decent look at her. Her skin was still drained of color, as the veins across her arms, chest, collar, and neck were a sickly green color. The chest piece of her suit was gone, exposing the black tank top she wore underneath with wires attaching her to the heart monitor strewn across her figure. 

Her hair was stuck to her skin from all the sweat coating her body, as she lightly shook where she lay. Tim wasn't sure how long the sedative was going to counter the toxin, but he had to be quick. 

Searching through the drawers once more, he found the right equipment to draw some blood from her arm. Pulling up a stool, Tim sat beside her as he cleaned her arm and inserted the needle into her vein. 

Seeing Rory like this brought back painful memories, that week after she was stabbed by Slade was scarred into his mind. At least she wasn't on an oxygen mask yet, and he wanted to make sure that it stayed that way. No matter what the situation was like between them, Tim never wanted to see her like that again. 

Once he was done getting the blood he needed, Tim wrapped up the place he stabbed and sat there quietly. He hadn't noticed that he was holding her hand until he felt her fingers tighten around his. Carefully, he let both of his hands take hers in his and he couldn't help but notice how it was so familiar yet so different. 

Her hands were different, there were more callouses than before that adorned her palms and fingers. Rory's once delicate hands were anything but. Tim could still feel the ones that he had memorized from years of archery and crime-fighting, but among those were more callouses that matched the ones on his own hands. No matter how different they were, they still fit perfectly in his like they were made especially for it. 

Brushing his thumb over her pulse, Tim had to check. She was still alive the whimpers leaving her lips told him that, but her heart rate was quicker than it should be but not by much. The sedative was slowly wearing off. He really needed to get the antidote started.

Against his better judgment, Tim left a soft kiss on the back of her hand and set it on her lap. 

"I'll make this better Songbird, I promise," he muttered before getting up. Turning on his heel, he stopped seeing who was there waiting in the doorway for him. 

"I knew you'd come back here, there's no way you'd be able to stay away for that long," Conner commented, shifting his weight with a grimace. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." he snapped, walking past him and back towards the lab with the vials of Rory's blood. "I came to get this, nothing else." 

Conner sighed and followed after him. "When will you stop lying to yourself?" he asked, trying to keep pace through the pain. Turns out Slade had a small amount of kryptonite on him and stabbed Conner with it, it wasn't enough to kill him but he was still healing from it. 

"I'm not lying to anybody." 

"Well, you lied to the team about Rory's real situation. Just to clear the air, none of us care that she is Ghost. She was once our friend, if her being here is the safest option then we'll do it." Conner continued walking with his friend. "What we care about, is what is happening to you. The last two weeks you both have tip-toeing around each other. It's obvious that you still love her."

"It doesn't matter if I love her or not, she never loved me." Tim snapped. "I'm just doing what's right." 

Conner stopped in his tracks and stared after him, his best friend really was the biggest idiot in the world. "Tim, I saw all of that. It does matter to you because it's ripping you apart being this close to her, but not being able to have her back." 

"Can we skip to the part where you tell me the point of this conversation?" Tim asked walking into the lab. 

Letting out a sigh, Conner shut the door and blocked it. "Fine, have you considered the possibility that she actually still cares for you?" 

"Rory made it very clear that she doesn't, or did you forget?" Tim poured some of Rory's infected blood into the machine carefully and watch it get analyzed. There was no possible way Rory loved him still, not after all she did.

"You won't even let yourself consider it! Tim, Rory knew what she was possibly walking into, and still chose to save you. Not once was Slade mentioned, all she cared about was getting you back." Conner countered. "It's like you don't want the possibility of her loving you to be true." 

Tim stayed silent. Conner had guessed everything he had tried to hide, that's what happened when you had a best friend. He refused to consider the possibility of her loving him back, with the vigilante life hope was dangerous. Tim couldn't let himself hope that Rory still loved him, he couldn't deal with that kind of heartbreak; not again. 

If Rory had truly loved him, she wouldn't have said those things to him. She knew his fears, Rory knew the things that lied in the darkest depths of his heart. Time and time again, he expressed that he was scared of not being good enough; that she would stop loving him. Tim could forgive her for lying to him, but he wasn't sure if he could ever forgive her for using his fears like that against him.

She had to not love him because Rory never would have hurt him in the first place.

"Rory never loved me, and that's the truth." Tim only wished that he never loved her, because then he wouldn't be in this much pain. 

Conner let out a sigh and pulled up the seat next to Tim and leaned back, letting out a hiss as he did so.

"You need rest."

"So do you nerd bird, but what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't support you by hanging out with you while figuring out this antidote?" he grinned changing the subject. 

"One with some common sense, you were stabbed with kryptonite. You need rest, Connor." 

"And you were kidnapped, cut open, and held hostage. I will rest once you do." Connor rested his hands behind his head as he watched Tim try and fight the smile forming on his face. 

"You are the most insufferable person I know," Tim muttered, checking the status of the antidote. 

"Ah, that may be true but you can't live without me Timbo." Connor laughed.

"Can't live with you either apparently." 

The shock on Connor's face made Tim crack a smile, he really knew how to cheer him up. While they both sat there talking, the sedative they gave Rory was slowly wearing off everyone in the tower unaware until her shrieks pierced the quiet air once more. 

The both of them jumped up and ran down the hall to find Rory convulsing on the bed, screaming in pain. "Make it stop!" she sobbed.

Tim and Conner were the first ones at her side, holding her down while Tim tried to get another dose of sedative in her. 

"Please make it stop!" she pleaded, her cries echoing through the tower. 

Cassie, Bart, and Althea all rushed back into the room to see Tim and Conner trying to hold her down. Bart and Althea ran over to help hold her down, while Cassie looked for the sedative.

Tim cupped her face, ignoring the stares of the others around them. "I'll make it stop, I promise," he said, trying to get her to focus. "Songbird, I promise I'll make all of it stop."

Cassie managed to find it and gave Rory another dose. She had burned through it faster than they all had expected, and the antidote wasn't ready yet. Rory's time on this Earth was limited, and it was counting down fast. If Tim didn't finish that antidote soon, they were going to lose her. 

They watched as Rory began to relax back, her grip not leaving Tim's hand. "It's all my fault." she whimpered. "Everyone's dead, and it's all my fault." was the last thing she said before her words became incoherent.

Rory's skin was so hot, it almost burned Tim's hand while she continued to whimper in pain. She was lying in a pool of her own sweat, the effects the toxin was having on her were devastating. There was no telling what will happen once they cured her. 

"Go get some ice packs, we need to keep her cool," Cassie said, nodding towards Bart. He gave her a nod before he zoomed off and came back with every single one they had in the tower. 

Each of them took the packs and placed them around her body, it was slowly lowering her body temperature but the heat was also melting them still. 

_"Wons ti ekam!"_

Althea's words rang around the room as a light snowfall drizzled upon Rory slowly to keep her body cool. No one was sure what else they could do until the antidote finished, and there was no guarantee that it was going to work. 

As if it could read their thoughts, the machine from the lab let out a very loud beep signaling that it was done mixing the antidote they needed to save Rory's life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was an emotional roller coaster! Tim is going through a lot right now along with the others. Also, I hoped that the reaction of the team was up to your expectations. I never wanted them to freak out over learning Rory was Ghost, because they all had a lingering feeling that she was connected somehow. 
> 
> But we'll get to see what exactly the toxin did to Rory in the aftermath of all this. The whole point of it was to make her see her darkest fears but worse, and put her body through severe physical pain like Ivy's toxin can do to people.


	22. Chapter Twenty-One

Opening her eyes, the first thing Rory noticed was that her throat was dry. So dry that it hurt to even think about talking, and then next came the pain. All over her body, there was this dull aching that went all the way into her bones and made her restless. 

Her senses slowly restored themselves as she was greeted with the smell of sanitizer and the sight of a white ceiling above her. There was a taste of something on her tongue, but it was foreign to her. All she could hear was the steady beeping of machines all around her. 

The last sense she felt was that something was touching her. Rory looked at her hands and quickly saw that they were strapped to the bed. That was when it all clicked. She was strapped to a hospital bed in a location she didn't know. 

Her brain now fully awake, was running a million miles a minute. Where was Tim? Where was Slade? and most importantly, Where was she and how did she get here? The last thing Rory remembered was going through the warehouse before...

If Rory wasn't awake before, she was awake now. The last she had seen of Tim, he was lying dead in her arms before she lost consciousness. She had cried for hours over his dead body, feeling the worst pain she had ever felt emotionally and physically.

Clenching her fists, Rory fought to get out of the restraints but she was strapped in tight. If there was one thing Rory learned, it was how to get out of situations like this. 

The last time she had to do this was when she was held captive by the Joker, and it hurt just as much now as it did then. Rory popped her thumb out of place and slid her hand out of the strap holding it down. 

Letting out a sigh of relief, she dropped her head as her injured hand unstrapped her other one trying to cause the least amount of pain. Once her second hand was free, Rory gripped her injured thumb tightly and popped it back into place with a cry of pain. 

That had to alert whoever was in this building with her to the fact that she was awake. Throwing her feet over the edge, they touched the bare floor sending shivers up her spine. It was freezing, either that or her body was really warm.

Carefully, she walked out of the room and looked up and down the hallway. Rory still had no idea where she was, but she was not going to wait around to find out. Slowly, walking down the hall, she kept an eye out for people sneaking up on her. 

Voices were coming from her left, her mind was still fogged up from whatever it was that caused her to pass out. She couldn't make out what they were saying or who it was, but she couldn't risk it. 

Diving into the closest room, she shut the door and listened as the two people walked down the hall. They walked right by the door, but even then she couldn't tell who they were. 

"Rory?" 

Hearing her name, she froze in place and turned to see someone there behind her. Blinking multiple times, Rory still couldn't focus enough to see who was talking to her. 

"What are you doing out of bed?" 

"D-Don't come any closer to me," she muttered, holding a hand out.

"What are you talking about, it's me." the voice said, as the blurred-out figure came closer. 

"I said don't come closer!" she snapped.

The figure stopped, Rory rubbed her eyes multiple times to try and focus to see who was in front of her. She could tell that it was a guy and that he knew her, but she still couldn't put a name or a face to the voice. 

"Rory, it's me, Conner," he said softly, walking towards her slowly. "You're in the tower, Bart brought you here after he, Cassie, and Althea went to save you and Tim," he explained.

Hearing his name sent Rory into a panic, in her brief moments of escape Rory had forgotten all about Tim.

"Where is he?" she asked quickly.

Conner stepped closer to her, slowly placing a hand on her shoulder. "He is downstairs in the kitchen, he's okay and you are okay," he said softly.

Rory shook her head quickly. "No, he's dead! I saw the body!" she cried looking up at him. Now that she was more awake, she could see Conner clearly and began to recognize her surroundings. 

"Tim's not dead, Rory what are you-"

"No! He's dead!" she screamed. "He's dead! I found his body! I was too late!" 

Conner looked at her in shock before trying to get her attention. "Rory listen to me, you weren't too late! Everyone is okay!" 

"Stop lying to me!" she screamed and tried to get away from him as Conner wrapped his arms around her to keep her pressed to himself. "Let me go! He's gone! He's gone and it's my fault!" 

Conner may have had super strength, but his grip on Rory was faltering. She was wiggling just enough that she was starting to slip through his hold no matter how tight he held her. "Rory stop before you hurt yourself!" 

"Can I get some help here?" he called into the hall. Cassie and Bart who had passed by only moments before were there immediately and were both shocked to see Rory in the state she was in with Conner trying to hold her back.

"One of you go get Tim! Now!" he called. 

Bart nodded and took off in a blur, leaving Cassie to try and console Rory who was now sobbing in Conner's arms while still fighting to get out of them. 

"He's dead!" she sobbed, "Everyone is dead! He killed them because of me!" 

Rory fell to her knees as she lost the fight left within her, Conner knelt behind her and held Rory close to him as she sobbed mourning for all those people she saw die. 

Within moments, Tim ran in with Bart right behind him and was surprised to see Rory. Without thinking, he dove to his knees and held her face in his hands. 

"Rory, Rory I'm right here," he said trying to make her look at him. 

The second he spoke, Rory started to calm down as she tried to look at him through the tears. "T-Tim?" she asked softly. 

Tim nodded quickly. "I'm right here," he said softly. 

Rory blinked back tears as she shook her head. "You were dead, I held your lifeless body." 

Taking her hand, Tim pressed it to his chest where his heart was. "Do you feel that? What does that tell you?" he asked softly, watching her start to calm down. 

Rory stilled as she felt Tim's heartbeat beneath her hand. Slowly, she felt Conner release her as she moved closer towards Tim. "It felt so real..." she muttered, keeping her hand on his chest. 

"Scarecrow toxin can do that to you, and it was mixed with Ivy's as well. We have no idea what it did to you, Slade had a trap set where I was the bait and you walked right into it," he explained slowly, watching Rory relax.

"No one is dead?" she asked. The heartbreak in her tone hurt Tim, she had really believed that he among others were dead. What did this mean for them? He was so convinced that she hated him, but maybe he wasn't so sure anymore. 

"No, no one is even hurt," he said softly and watched as Rory leaned her head on his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you back to bed." Tim got to his feet and picked her up. No sooner did he have her in his arms, did Rory pass out. He figured it was from the sudden surge of stress, and she was still fighting off the effects of the toxins. 

Ignoring the obvious look Conner was giving him, Tim carried Rory back to the med bay and laid her on the bed. Looking back, someone should have been with her at all times. He should have known that she would get out without them noticing. But there was no telling what she was going to be like until she woke up, and now they had a good guess as to what it was that she saw while infected. 

Laying her on the bed, Tim checked her over to make sure her vitals were normal with Cassie helping him. It took a few moments but everything came back normal. For all intents and purposes, Rory was completely fine. But they all knew that she was anything but. 

Seeing how she reacted, Tim wasn't sure how he should feel. Rory made it clear that she didn't love him time and time again, but when she thought he was dead she looked so broken. The way she clung to him and sobbed in Conner's arms told him otherwise.

Everything about Rory both confused him and intrigued him. He had officially given up on trying not to love her, with the past they had it was nearly impossible to not fall in love with her every day. 

Watching her, Tim saw everything he loved about her from how strong she was to the more intimate moments when she was making the others laugh with a joke she picked up from Jason or Roy. He could feel the way Conner's eyes followed him, being best friends meant that they knew everything about each other and he knew what Rory did to him. 

Tim had told Conner everything from the day she broke up with him, to how long he searched for her because he refused to believe that she really didn't love him. But as time passed, the truth began to set it and that sent Tim into a depression unlike anything from before. 

He had lost multiple people in his life, his parents, there was a time that Steph, Bruce, and Dick were all thought to be dead and each time Tim spiraled. But there was always someone there to keep him from falling too deep. 

When he met Rory again, she became his rock the person he depended on for everything. Tim had learned the hard way that he had to guard his heart, even around those closest to him. But within that year that he was dealing with all of that, Rory was off around the world suffering in her own way.

"We should keep someone here with her at all times, in case she wakes up and starts freaking out again," Bart said.

"I think Tim should be the one she sees first, he was the one she was convinced that was dead. Maybe seeing him first will help solidify that it wasn't a dream." Cassie said looking between Tim and Conner. 

"I think he should too, maybe seeing him being present will keep her calm. Whatever it was she saw, it wasn't good. I don't think I have ever seen her cry, not like that." he said softly.

Tim wanted to argue, that anyone else would be better than him but then it would be obvious to everyone what he felt if they hadn't figured it out yet. He wanted to keep them out of this as much as he could, but it was inevitable.

"I'll stay and keep an eye on her, why don't you guys go make sure her room is ready for her when she wakes up and maybe make some broth. She has to be drained and I don't want to make her stomach upset with all the stress and toxin exposure." 

The others nodded and one by one they all filed out of the room. Even as a deadly assassin, they still wanted to help Rory. Tim really lucked out with the people he considered his friends. It wasn't long before he was the only one left with Rory as she slept off the last effects from the toxin. 

There were several more doses on standby just in case she needed them. Like Slade had said, Rory breathed in the toxin for almost an hour. They had to be careful. 

Sitting beside her bed, Tim dropped his head between his knees. What was he going to do? He loved Rory, he loved her more than anything and would take her back in a heartbeat if she asked. But that was his problem, he knew what she did to him and even then he was willing to put himself through all of it again just to love her again.

He knew that she was a good actor, but no one could act that well. Tim believed that at one point, Rory truly did love him. The love they shared was too strong for all of it to be fake, and he couldn't run from his feelings anymore. But it seemed that all Rory did was run from hers, and that included Tim. 

Why did she leave him, was she scared? Was she forced? Trying to look through the situation with a clear lens, Rory just suddenly not loving him made no sense. There had to be something he was missing, and it was the key to unlocking the reason why Rory left. 

Carefully, he took her hand in his like he had the day before. She was cooler to the touch, her skin no longer so hot it burned. Rory was in a deep sleep, her breathing even as she rested. Tim had wondered if her sleep after they sedated her saved her from the nightmares caused by the toxin, but the possibility was low. 

Even before, Rory has always been quiet about what scared her the most. He had always thought that it was Slade that scared her the most, but after that fateful night at Amusement Mile, he doubted it. Something changed in Rory that day, it was a slow change, but a change nonetheless. 

Maybe the thing Rory feared the most was her own shortcomings, it's what made the most sense. After Jesse died, Rory pushed herself harder to be better. They all had brushed it off as her not wanting to disappoint them but maybe it was so no one else would die on her watch.

Feeling her hand twitch in his, Tim looked up and saw that Rory was slowly waking up. 

Opening her eyes, Rory was met with the sight of Tim's baby blues staring back at her with concern. A look she thought that she would ever get again. What she had seen made her realize just how short life was but Rory wasn't ready for forgiveness from Tim and herself. 

She was tired of running, tired of sacrificing her life to save others. Yes, that was the job of a hero, but before she could even be considered a hero again she had a lot to make up for. Rory was done giving up what meant the most to her, and Tim was at the top of that list. 

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper. 

"Like absolute shit, what the hell happened?" she asked, her voice hoarse and dry from her screaming. 

Hearing her, Tim reached over and got her a glass of water. "How much do you remember?"

Rory took sips as she thought, what did she remember?

"I remember swinging through the window, and that my mask was having problems. I took it off, and after that is where it got fuzzy until..." 

"Until what?" 

Rory swallowed hard looking away from him. "Until I saw everyone die in front of me, Dinah, Oli, Roy, my parents, Bruce the others... Everyone was dead and it was my fault. Th-Then I saw Jesse, and he looked so horrific, I wanted to scream." she explained. 

"You're okay, the toxin is no longer in your system but you might experience lingering effects. By order of Althea and Cassie, you are to be on bed rest until you are back to 100%." Tim said. He wanted so badly to ask about his death that she saw, but Rory didn't mention it for a reason so he wasn't going to pry. She would tell him when she was ready to. If there was anything he learned from her was when Rory wasn't ready to talk, you were not going to get anything out of her. 

"Thank you, for everything. This last year, I gave you absolutely no reason to trust me or to want to help me. I could have died without you and I just want to tell you how grateful I am." she said softly, looking at him.

Tim gave her a soft smile. "I should thank you as well, Rory, you took care of the team and went after me." he started. "I haven't been nice to you either, but you risked your life to save me. Not just that, you were ready to face down Slade again after all he did to you, you were going to fight him to get me back in one piece and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that."

Rory opened her mouth to speak but Tim stopped her. "Let me finish please."

She nodded, signaling for him to continue. 

"I of all people know how much Slade has taken from you. He is the reason you are who you are today, because of all he has done to you. I just want you to know that whatever this mission of yours is, you aren't alone. The League of Assassins has taken things from me as well, and I'd be damned if they did it again." 

Rory sat there quietly and listened to his words. Was Tim telling her that he still cared without actually saying it? So desperately she wanted it to be true, Tim was the only thing that kept her going. Even when they were apart, everything she did was to keep him safe. All Rory hoped was that he would understand it one day. 

Letting out a sigh, Rory shifted in the bed before looking at him once more. 

"Thank you, Tim." 

"Anytime Rory."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we seem to be getting somewhere! Rory's state of mind is all kinds of whack at the moment but she will be getting better with the help of Tim and the rest of the Titans there with him. 
> 
> I have some fun and exciting things planned, I hope you guys will enjoy them as much as I do!


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two

Rory was stuck in the med bay for two days before the others even thought about letting her out. By that point, they were completely sure that she was cured of the toxin, but the effects it still had on her psychologically were still lingering. Rory had experienced both Ivy's pollen and Scarecrow's fear toxin and on their own both were awful. 

Ivy's pollen made the victim sex-driven, searching for that kind of release but put them in extreme pain to where they felt like they were dying. Scarecrow's toxin made you see your worst fears and combining them both was both extremely smart and extremely dangerous. 

The ramifications it had on Rory's body after an hour of exposure were deadly. For the last two nights, she had constant nightmares. Even if she was cured, what happened and left her mental state in a wreck. When she couldn't sleep Rory trained on her own in the night. Just a simple dose was enough to drive someone out of their mind, it was a miracle that Rory was this okay after two days. Which begged another question. 

Where did Slade get ahold of something like that? The only hint anyone had to this coming was when they were alerted to Scarecrow and Ivy both popping up on Batman's radar on the same day. Slade was never seen in Gotham, and Scarecrow and Ivy were on opposite sides of town. 

The possibilities were there, so it wasn't impossible. What irritated everyone the most was that Slade had gotten that close to killing Rory once again and they were almost too late like before. That led to where they were all now. 

Rory has Bart pinned face down on the mat holding his arm behind him. Now that everyone knew of Rory's situation, she felt more at ease in the tower. She was able to let loose when she trained, not worried about exposing her secret. That also meant that she could help train them to be able to hold their own against the inevitable attack of more assassins in the future. 

Bart was wriggling under her trying to get free, but Rory had him pinned well. "Can one of you tell me what Bart did wrong?" she asked, blowing the few loose strands out of her face. 

As if they were in class, Conner raised his hand with a grin on his face. "Oh I know, I know!" he laughed. "Bart was too predictable."

Rory rolled her eyes and let Bart go who got to his feet, brushing off his shirt. "You're right. Bart relied too much on his speed and I could predict where he would be. If I were someone else, Bart would be dead." she explained tossing a bottle to Bart who caught it easily.

"The problem with the four of you is what makes you different from me and Tim. You three all have powers, and that's great until there is someone better than you. Tim and I have been training like this for years, between several of the Leaguers, along with some assassins we were taught how to hold our own with some of the worst circumstances." 

Rory watched as Bart joined Conner, Cassie, and Althea who stood in a line watching her as she paced. "You have never had to rely on anything but your powers but as we learned with Slade, he can still take you out. I'm not expecting you to turn into fighters like us, but I expect you to better yourselves so you can be better heroes in the long run."

Tim stood off to the side working on something for Bruce as he listened. His attention was not on his work at all, instead, he was more focused on the woman in front of him. The way Rory took control and commandeered an entire room was amazing. Even before, Tim was always left awestruck in her presence each time she did it. But it wasn't just her ability to seize control that had him so distracted. 

Her ass looked really good in those leggings. 

The worst part was, Conner had totally caught him looking at least twice and Tim did not miss the look he gave him each time. He knew that something happened between Rory and Tim when she was on bed rest, but Conner had no idea what exactly it was.

"What do you think Tim? Should I run them through a few more drills?" Rory called, looking over at him. 

Tim was drug out of his thoughts as looked at her once again before looking at the others. "I think they're going to pass out if you run them through another drill. Why don't we call it quits for the day?" 

Rory looked at the other four and Tim did have a point. They were all covered in sweat and exhaustion was written all over their faces. She had worked them pretty hard, and they deserved a chance to relax. 

"Go hit the showers." she chuckled and watched as Bart sped out of the room as quick as he could as if he was scared of Rory telling him to do another drill if he stayed longer. 

Tim laughed from behind her once everyone was gone, leaving just them in the training room. "I don't think I have seen him run that fast unless food was involved." 

Rory turned to look at him, adjusting her ponytail. "You said to train them, and that is what I plan on doing. But I don't recall giving you permission to ditch." she grinned, picking up a bo staff at tossing it at him. 

Catching it in his hand, Tim couldn't keep his eyes off her. This was her element, Rory was born for this kind of life and there was nothing that could keep her from it. With a grin, he spun it around before holding it behind him ready to strike. 

"So what? Is this your way of saying that I need the training?" he asked, watching as Rory got in a similar stance and they began to circle each other around the mat in the middle of the floor.

"Until you can beat me in a fair fight, you will always need more training." she grinned and went to hit him, Tim blocking her hit with his own staff. "But that's never going to happen." 

Tim let out a huff and spun his staff around to attack but Rory backed away each spin and managed to stop his momentum and send a kick towards his stomach. Her kick was blocked, and Rory was almost thrown off balance as Tim pushed her back and became more aggressive with his attacks.

Each hit he sent towards her, Rory blocked with her own staff protecting her head, chest, and legs. Each was a vulnerable spot, and one hit there would show that he was better than her and that was something Rory refused to ever admit. 

Rory blocked a hit before Tim wrapped his staff around hers and disarmed her from her weapon. Taking the moment of shock, she watched as it clattered to the floor. Tim seemed to be in shock as well at the fact of what he had just done and didn't notice Rory dove for her staff until she rolled onto the ground to pick it up. 

Going after her, Tim sent another series of hits stopping her from getting to her feet. Using his momentum, Rory grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder onto the floor with a loud thud. Both their staffs rolled across the room as they jumped to their feet and continued their spar hand to hand.

Tim sent hit after hit, making Rory take steps back to keep up blocking every hit that came her way. Rory held her arms up to block a kick sent to her chest as her back hit the wall behind her. Letting out a grunt, Rory tried to block more of Tim's hits but he grabbed her wrists and held them above her head against the wall.

And just like that, the atmosphere in the room changed instantly. 

Tim's breath fanned over her face, sending shivers down her spine. They both were panting for air, as Tim's grip on her wrists stayed tight. 

The look on Rory's face drove Tim nuts, the wide doe-eyed look she was giving him for both the shock and surprise of him pressing her back against the wall. It was as if she was waiting for him to do something, anything to break the tension in the air. 

Feeling his body pressed against hers made Rory think of all the past training sessions that ended with them in a very compromising position, not even bothering to make it to the bedroom half the time. What she wouldn't give for another moment like that.

Tim stared her down, as Rory gulped. She wanted to say something but she felt as if she was drowning. What could she say? Tim's feelings towards hers were still unknown and the last thing she wanted was to make him do something he didn't want. 

"I win." was all he said before Rory was alone in the training room. 

With Tim's presence gone, Rory could finally think clearly. What the fuck just happened? 

Rubbing her face, Rory took a deep breath. Her heart was trying to beat out of her chest as she tried to calm her racing thoughts of what she wanted Tim to do to her in that situation. After a few moments of composing herself, Rory finally left the training room. 

Right as she turned down the hall, Rory was surprised to see Conner standing there with his arms crossed and looking down at her. "Anything you'd like to share?" he asked. 

Rory scoffed and brushed past him. "Bold of you to assume I share." 

"Well, you shared a little moment with Tim for a moment there." 

Rory shook her head as she kept walking down the hall. "Nothing happened Conner, now drop it." she snapped walking towards her room. 

Conner followed behind keeping pace easily. "But you wanted it to." 

"One more word out of you Kent, and I will put your head through a wall."

Grinning as he followed her, Conner leaned against the door frame. "You really suck at this whole hiding your feelings thing. For an assassin, you would think that you would be better at it." a hairbrush came flying out of the bathroom Rory disappeared into and hit him square on the forehead. 

"If I wanted the opinion of a Kryptonian I would have called Kara." 

Rory stepped out of the bathroom with a wig on, and sunglasses covering her eyes with a bag on her shoulder. 

"Where the hell are you going sunshine?" 

"I have business in town, business that is none of yours," she said, walking towards the elevator that led out of the tower. 

Rory didn't even make it out of the hall before Tim came out of his room and saw what she was doing.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he asked. 

Stopping where she stood, Rory let out a huff. "Why is it suddenly everyone's business what I am doing?" she snapped.

Tim dried his damp hair as he walked closer. "Because none of us are idiots, and did you forget the price on your head, or was everything that happened with Slade a dream?" 

"I have something I needed to take care of in town, that's it," she answered.

Both Tim and Conner gave her unamused looks and crossed their arms together. "Well, whatever it is, you can take us with you. Daytime has never stopped the League, and I don't want you going alone," he explained. 

Rory dropped her head, the fake blonde locks hanging in her face. "Alright fine, but don't ask questions or I will ditch you both and make sure you won't find me." 

At her words, both boys get dressed in civvies before joining her at the elevator. Conner Kent may not be a famous celebrity, but Timothy Drake was a Wayne heir and Aurora Queen was still missing. The last thing she needed was to be recognized. 

Exiting the tower, the three of them walked down the street enjoying the last bit of warmth before Autumn set in. It was the end of August now, and with September on its approach, the cooler weather was coming. Jump City never got as cold as Gotham, Rory missed the snow. When she was in Russia, it was the middle of summer and she was happy about that.

If she had been there during the infamous winter, there was no telling if she would ever come back. 

The business Rory had in town wasn't even that classified. All she was doing was meeting an informant about her next potential target. Now that everyone knew she was Ghost, Rory was going to not kill anymore. Not having that burden lingering over her, Rory was a happier person. 

It never sat right with her, no matter how many lives she had taken. Most of them had been horrible people, crooked politicians, assassins who had committed crimes so awful she would never repeat them. Rory had lost enough of herself killing, maybe it was time she gained her humanity back by protecting those she loved.

The address her informant had given her was next to a bar, in the alley behind it. 

"Neither of you follow me. Stay here or I will kick your ass and drop it in the harbor." she threatened and disappeared down the alley and out of sight. 

Gripping her bag tightly, Rory walked further in until she was met with a familiar face. 

"Lady Aurora, now nice to see you again." his thick accent rang across the alley walls and bounced back to her. 

"Beau, how long has it been? Four months?" she asked. 

"Five, _ma dame_ has been asking about when your next visit will be," he said, pushing off the wall to walk towards Rory who stood in the middle awaiting him. "Said that your time together was too short for her liking." 

" _Ma dame_ will never be satisfied, no matter how much time I spend with her. Do you have what I need?" The familiar nickname rolled off her tongue as if it belonged there. It hadn't felt like five months since she was in France last, but again time flies when you're being hunted. 

Beau opened his coat and pulled out a small envelope, and placed it in Rory's open hand. "She said that she hopes it's to your liking and requests that you don't bring a guest with you, it would put a damper on her plans." 

Rory rolled her eyes, of course, that was the message she sent with Beau. Opening the package, she saw two plane tickets, fake passports, two gala tickets along with a large amount of euro in cash. There was no way Rory would be able to get to Paris without Tim, so it seemed she had a guest. 

"If she was so worried about me bringing a guest, why would she include a second set?" Rory chuckled and put the envelope in her bag. "But I can not come alone, my situation is tricky and I will most likely be coming with a partner."

Beau nodded his head and put his hands in his pockets. "You and I both know that won't stop her, she just might try to drag your friend in with you." 

Rory let out a soft laugh. "Take care of yourself Beau, and please give _ma dame_ my regards. Maybe remind her that it will not happen again," she called as Beau walked off towards the busy street. 

Turning on her heel, Rory went back the way she came and Tim and Conner were both there waiting for her. "So, how'd it go?" the former asked.

"It went as I wanted, we have more to discuss back at the tower. But for now, who wants a drink?" she grinned and walked into the bar next to them. Conner and Tim both rolled their eyes and followed her in, Rory picking a booth in the back.

A waitress came around and ordered them some drinks, leaving them in comfortable silence. 

"Why the sudden urge for a drink?" Tim asked. 

"Why the sudden urge for curiosity? Don't you know it killed the cat?"

Conner let out a laugh at her words and leaned back in his seat, eyeing a pair of girls behind Rory who were giving their table looks. It was obvious that they were twins and he wasn't sure what they were looking at, but it seemed they were looking at Rory.

The waitress came back with their drinks by the time the two girls decided to walk up to them. 

"Jessica?" 

Rory froze mid-sip and almost choked on her drink. She knew there was a reason she shouldn't have been blonde in this town again. Two of them stood behind her. 

Slowly with a sheepish grin, Rory turned to look at the girls who were obviously related. "Sofia, Camila, how have you been?" 

Without another word, there was a loud slap that echoed across the bar with Tim and Conner staring in shock. Rory's face was turned to the left, as she licked her lips. "I suppose an apology won't suffice?" she asked looking up at them.

Sofia glared at Rory. "That's for not calling me back." 

Another slap rang around the room, as Camila slapped Rory. "And that's for not calling _me_ back."

Without another word, the two girls walked off and out of the bar, with Tim and Conner staring at Rory in confusion. What they had just witnessed made them stare at Rory as she sat there quietly. It was a couple of minutes before either of them spoke, and it was Tim who broke the silence. 

"Seriously Rory? Twins?" 

That seemed to snap her out of it. Turning to look at Tim she narrowed her eyes. "What? It's not like I slept with them at the same time." 

Hearing that twisted the knife in his gut, he knew that Rory probably had her partners since they broke up but hearing it only made him feel worse about it. But what was he so upset about? He had partners of his own, but again none of them ever compared to hers. 

Both Conner and Tim facepalmed at her words. 

The three of them sat there finishing their drinks as they talked, sharing stories of their childhood and things they did as if they were catching up as friends did after a long time apart. Rory told them about the different places she had seen around the world, leaving out the assassin part of the story but she had seen so many places that neither of them have even been to and even showed some pictures she took.

Once their drinks were gone and done, the three of them got up and paid before leaving the bar.

Rory didn't get ten feet down the street before she stopped in her tracks and let out a loud groan. She just couldn't get a break today, could she? 

Three exes in two hours? That had to be a new record. 

"Just how many people live in this fucking city?" she mumbled loud enough for only Tim and Conner to hear. 

"Do you want an estimation or an exact number?" Tim answered with a chuckle. 

Rory turned to give him a glare. "You think you're so funny don't you?" 

"What? Is it another ex?" Conner teased trying to see what made her stop.

"Yeah and this guy can't take no for an answer." Taking a look, the guy she was trying to avoid caught her gaze and immediately began to walk their way with a smile on his face. 

"Oh, fucking hell."

Conner let out a loud laugh and held his stomach as he did. Turning to glare at him once more, Rory narrowed her eyes and grabbed his collar. "You think this is funny don't you?" she asked. 

"Yeah a bit," he admitted looking down at her. "What are you going to do about it?" 

"This."

Rory had no idea what caused her to do this, and it was the stupidest idea ever. She gripped his collar tightly and pulled him down into a kiss. 

Conner let out a surprised noise at the action and stood there, suddenly aware of the fact that his best friend was standing there. He could practically hear Tim's blood pressure rising as he kept his hands at waist height and nothing else.

Tim watched the exchange with clenched fists. Rory had every right to kiss whoever she wanted, and she didn't owe him any explanations. But did she really have to kiss Conner? 

The kiss was quick, Rory let him go and glanced down the street and saw that the guy she was avoiding was gone. Probably scared off by the kiss she shared with Conner, and looking at him Conner had a permanent look of shock etched on his face. 

"Come on, we have more things to take care of back at the tower." Rory adjusted her glasses and began her walk down the street. 

"Like what?" Tim asked.

Rory turned on her heel and walked backward as she looked at Tim and Conner, who was still a little red in the face. "I have a flight to Paris to catch Timbo, and you're coming with me." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this whole bit planned for months, but they were not in a place that I could execute it. I have a lot more planned, and I wonder if you guys caught onto any of it. I did drop a few hints.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooooo what did I do?


End file.
